ETC: Update on Nanotech - Sneaking another one by you.

[Guest guest]

The government who has sold out to business interests,

is trying to sneak another dangerous new technology by

you without open information, any safeguards or

unbiased oversight. F.

 

 

> ETC group<etc

> ETC: Update on Nanotech

>

> ETC Group

> News Release

> Thursday, 8 July 2004

> www.etcgroup.org

>

>

> Nanotech: Unpredictable and Un-Regulated

> New Report from ETC Group

>

> The ETC Group releases a new Communiqué today that

> provides an update on policy discussions related to

> nanotech health and safety issues and the glaring

> lack of regulatory oversight. According to the ETC

> Group, governments on both sides of the Atlantic are

> reluctantly and belatedly conceding that current

> safety and health regulations may not be adequate to

> address the special exigencies of nano-scale

> materials. In sharp contrast to the political

> climate one year ago, the potential health and

> environmental risks of some nano-scale technologies

> are being openly discussed in Europe and North

> America. Since mid-2002, ETC Group has called for a

> moratorium on the use of synthetic nanoparticles in

> the lab and in any new commercial products until

> governments adopt " best practices " for research.

>

> The full text of the 12-page report is available

> online: www.etcgroup.org

>

> " Ironically, governments are talking about the need

> to be proactive, failing to admit that they're at

> least one decade late: nanotech products are already

> commercially available and laboratory workers and

> consumers are already being exposed to nanoparticles

> that could pose serious risks to people and the

> environment, " says Pat Mooney, Executive Director of

> ETC Group in Ottawa. The US government estimates

> that one million new workers will be employed in

> nanotech-related industries within the next decade.

> And the global nanotech market is expected to tip $1

> trillion in just seven years, according to Mike Roco

> of the US National Science Foundation.

>

> " Only a handful of toxicological studies exist on

> engineered nanoparticles, but not-so-tiny red flags

> are popping up everywhere, " points out Jim Thomas,

> ETC Group Programme Officer based in Oxford,

> England. In May, the world's second largest

> re-insurance company, Swiss Re, warned that the

> unknown and unpredictable risks associated with

> nanotoxicity or nanopollution could make

> nanotechnology un-insurable.

>

> " Will governments that are spending billions of

> dollars of taxpayer money to promote nanotech

> research adopt rigorous regulatory oversight or will

> they simply tinker with existing regulations and

> propose voluntary guidelines? When will they address

> seriously the wider concerns related to social and

> economic impacts of technologies converging at the

> nano-scale? " asks Kathy Jo Wetter, ETC Group

> researcher in Carrboro, North Carolina, USA.

>

> The new Communiqué also features an update and

> analysis of the " Grey Goo " debate - the nanotech

> disaster scenario described by Eric Drexler of the

> Foresight Institute. ETC Group dismisses Grey Goo as

> a red herring, but it concludes that the field of

> nanobiotechnology (the convergence of nano and bio)

> and the specter of " Green Goo " pose an urgent need

> for foresight and caution. Will new life forms,

> especially those that are designed to function

> autonomously in the environment, open a Pandora's

> box of unforeseen and uncontrollable consequences?

>

> Governments are suffering from myopia when it comes

> to nanotechnology, warns ETC Group. " Even as

> governments and industry belatedly accept that

> engineered nanoparticles may require regulation,

> they insist that more advanced stages of nanotech

> are too far over the horizon to consider regulating.

> They're wrong - we must look beyond nanoparticles to

> consider more advanced stages such as

> nanobiotechnology and a host of socio-economic

> impacts related to human rights, defense and trade, "

> says Jim Thomas of ETC Group.

>

> ETC Group concludes that society is not ready for

> the technological and economic upheaval that

> nano-scale technologies will deliver. Given the huge

> amount of government and private sector funding and

> the accelerated pace of scientific breakthroughs, it

> is a mistake for governments to focus on a 3-5 year

> horizon for regulating nanotech.

>

> The nanotech industry prides itself on having

> learned the lessons of biotech, insisting that they

> won't repeat the missteps and mistakes associated

> with the introduction of genetically modified crops.

> Based on current trends, it looks like they're en

> route to another disastrous technology introduction.

>

> ETC Group insists that government regulations are

> not enough. Society must be fully engaged in a

> discussion of the socio-economic as well as health

> and environmental implications of nano-scale

> technologies. These issues must be considered by

> civil society in open, informed debates at the

> local, national and international levels.

>

> Rather than being forced to scramble and react to

> one technological wave after the other, the

> international community must create a new body

> dedicated to track, evaluate and accept or reject

> new technologies and their products through an

> International Convention on the Evaluation of New

> Technologies (ICENT).

>

> For further information:

>

> Pat Mooney, ETC Group (Canada) etc,

> (613) 241-2267

> Jim Thomas, ETC Group (UK) jim tel +44

> (0)1865 201719. mobile: +44 (0)7752 106806

> Kathy Jo Wetter and Hope Shand, ETC Group (USA)

> kjo, hope

> tel: +1 919 960-5223

> Silvia Ribeiro, ETC Group (Mexico)

> silvia: 52 55 55 632 664

>

> The Action Group on Erosion, Technology and

> Concentration, formerly RAFI, is an international

> civil society organization headquartered in Canada.

> The ETC Group is dedicated to the advancement of

> cultural and ecological diversity and human rights.

> www.etcgroup.org. The ETC Group is also a member of

> the Community Biodiversity Development and

> Conservation Programme (CBDC). The CBDC is a

> collaborative experimental initiative involving

> civil society organizations and public research

> institutions in 14 countries. The CBDC is dedicated

> to the exploration of community-directed programmes

> to strengthen the conservation and enhancement of

> agricultural biodiversity. The CBDC website is

> www.cbdcprogram.org

>

> ETC Group headquarters - NEW ADDRESS:

>

> ETC Group

> 1 Nicholas Street, Suite 200 B

> Ottawa, Ontario K1N 7B7 Canada

> tel: 1-613-241-2267; fax: 1-613-241-2506

> ETC Group also has offices in Carrboro (USA), Mexico

> City (Mexico) and Oxford (UK).

>

>

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