ETC News: Precautionary Prince -- Nanotech

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> ETC group<etc

> ETC News: Precautionary Prince -- Nanotech

>

> ETC Group

> News Release

> Sunday, July 11, 2004

> www.etcgroup.org

>

>

> The Precautionary Prince II

>

> Prince Charles' cautionary note brings " control and

> ownership " of

> nanotechnology, social issues and impacts on the

> South to the fore

>

> " Prince Charles' thoughtful article in the

> Independent on Sunday (UK)

> is an impressive service to society and science in

> the unfolding

> public debate on nanotechnology, " according to Jim

> Thomas of the ETC

> Group's Oxford office. " Not only does the Prince set

> aside the

> fictional notion of 'grey goo,' but he also sensibly

> reminds us that

> there are important unanswered questions relating to

> the control and

> ownership of these technologies, " said Thomas.

>

> Go here to view the Prince's article on

> nanotechnology:

>

http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=539977

>

> From ETC's international headquarters in Ottawa,

> Canada, Pat Mooney,

> Executive Director, adds, " It is especially

> significant that the

> Prince highlights the need for a precautionary

> approach, the need for

> a wider societal debate and draws attention to what

> nanotechnology

> may mean for the gap between rich and poor nations. "

>

> ETC Group is concerned about the potential for

> emerging technologies

> to destabilize the economies of poor countries in

> the global South,

> which could imperil the livelihoods of workers and

> basic producers

> everywhere. Until now, points out Mooney, the debate

> has focused

> narrowly on health and environmental concerns. " As

> important as these

> issues are, the regulations that will address them

> will no doubt be

> heavily influenced by whoever owns and controls

> nanotech. When 26

> governments met in Washington last month to discuss

> nanotechnology

> development,

> [http://www.etcgroup.org/article.asp?newsid=466],

> the

> emphasis was on environmental safety regulations and

> not on the

> regulations needed to prevent new corporate

> monopolies and technology

> cartels; nor to critical new issues related to human

> rights, privacy,

> and military applications. " In the view of the ETC

> Group, the

> Prince's article sets out the global landscape that

> will engage not

> only the United Nations but also all of civil

> society in the debate

> on this new technological revolution.

>

> ETC Group dismisses the threat of " grey goo " - where

> self-replicating

> nano-scale robots run amok - as a red herring. But

> serious attention

> must focus on the rapidly advancing field of

> nanobiotechnology, the

> current darling of nanotech venture capitalists.

> Nanobiotechnology

> refers to the merging of the living and non-living

> realms at the

> nano-scale to make hybrid materials and organisms.

> Researchers aim to

> harness nature's self-replicating 'manufacturing

> platform' for

> industrial uses - rather than try to engineer robots

> to mimic it.

> According to ETC Group, it's the spectre of " Green

> Goo " - not " Grey

> Goo " - that poses an urgent need for foresight and

> caution. For more

> information, see:

>

http://www.etcgroup.org/documents/livingcolorfinal.pdf

>

> In his article, Prince Charles asks if there is a

> danger of awarding

> patents on Nature. " The answer is yes, " according to

> Hope Shand,

> Research Director of ETC Group based in Carrboro,

> North Carolina,

> USA. " We're already seeing monopoly patents on the

> building blocks of

> nature. " Glenn Seaborg, the Nobel Prize-winning

> physicist, set a

> dangerous precedent when he won US patent #3,156,523

> for the chemical

> element Americium (element no. 95 on the periodic

> table) in 1964. A

> front-page article in the Wall St. Journal last

> month reports on the

> " intensifying race " to file nanotech patent

> applications. In the US

> alone, the number of nanotech patents awarded

> annually has tripled

> since 1996.(1) Major nanotech patent holders include

> IBM, L'Oréal, Dow,

> Xerox, Philips Electronics, Sony, Proctor & Gamble,

> University of

> California and Rice University, among others. The US

> government

> predicts that nanotech markets will exceed $1

> trillion by 2011.

>

> " With governments worldwide spending [uS]$5-6

> billion per year on

> nanotech R & D, virtually all Fortune 500 companies

> involved, scores of

> products on the market and hundreds more in the

> pipeline, the

> questions raised by Prince Charles - such as who

> wins and who loses?

> what are the risks and who will bear them? - are

> extremely relevant, "

> adds Shand.

>

> From GMOs to AMOs?

> In 1996 Prince Charles brought public attention to

> his concerns about

> genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and

> agriculture. What impacts

> will nanotech's atomically modified organisms (AMOs)

> have on food and

> agriculture? Though it has escaped public notice,

> the food and

> agriculture sector is among the most intensely

> researched areas of

> nano-scale science. These applications will extend

> the reach of

> industrial agriculture and alter the way our food is

> grown and

> produced, processed, packaged and even eaten.

> According to Helmut

> Kaiser Consultancy, some 200 transnational food

> companies are

> currently investing in nanotech and are on their way

> to

> commercializing products. The list includes many of

> the world's

> largest companies, such as: Ajinomoto, Campbell

> Soup, ConAgra,

> General Mills, H. J. Heinz, Kraft Foods, McCain

> Foods, Nestlé,

> PepsiCo, Sara Lee and Unilever.

>

> The following examples offer a preview:

>

> Nanoseeds: In Thailand, scientists at Chiang Mai

> University's nuclear

> physics laboratory have rearranged the DNA of rice

> by drilling a

> nano-sized hole through the rice cell's wall and

> membrane and

> inserting a nitrogen atom. So far, they've been

> able to change the

> colour of the grain, from purple to green.

>

> Nanoparticle pesticides: Monsanto, Syngenta and BASF

> are developing

> pesticides enclosed in nanocapsules or made up of

> nanoparticles. The

> pesticides can be more easily taken up by plants if

> they're in

> nanoparticle form; they can also be programmed to be

> " time-released. "

>

> Nano Chicken Feed: With funding from the US

> Department of Agriculture

> (USDA), Clemson University researchers are feeding

> bioactive

> polystyrene nanoparticles that bind with bacteria to

> chickens as an

> alternative to chemical antibiotics in industrial

> chicken production.

>

> Nano Ponds: One of the USA's biggest farmed fish

> companies, Clear

> Spring Trout, is adding nanoparticle vaccines to

> trout ponds, where

> they are taken up by fish.

>

> Little Brother: The USDA is pursuing a project to

> cover farmers'

> fields and herds with small wireless sensors to

> replace farm labour

> and expertise with a ubiquitous surveillance system.

>

> Nano foods: Kraft, Nestlé, Unilever and others are

> employing

> nanotech to change the structure of food - creating

> " interactive "

> drinks containing nanocapsules that can change

> colour and flavour

> (Kraft) and spreads and ice creams with nanoparticle

> emulsions

> (Unilever, Nestlé) to improve texture. Others are

> inventing small

> nanocapsules that will smuggle nutrients and

> flavours into the body

> (what one company calls " nanoceuticals " ).

>

> Nano packaging: BASF, Kraft and others are

> developing new

> nanomaterials that extend food shelf life and signal

> when a food

> spoils by changing colour.

>

>

> Coming Soon: Nanotech for Tummies

> In the coming months, ETC Group will release a

> series of Communiqués

> on the socio-economic impacts of nanotech, including

> a primer on the

> implications on nanotechnology for food and

> agriculture, " Nanotech

> for Tummies. "

>

>

> For further information:

> Pat Mooney, ETC Group (Canada) etc ,

> (613) 241-2267;

> mobile: (613) 261-0688

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

> (0)1865 201719;

> mobile: +44 (0)7752 106806

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

> kjo

> , hope

> tel: +1 919 960-5223

> Silvia Ribeiro, ETC Group (Mexico)

> silvia 52 55 55 632 664

>

> Notes to Editors:

>

> 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

>

> For a basic introduction to nano-scale technologies

> and an analysis

> of their implications, see The Big Down, From

> Genomes to Atoms:

> Technologies Converging at the Nano-scale

> http://www.etcgroup.org/documents/TheBigDown.pdf

>

> For an 8-page introduction to nano-scale

> technologies, an abbreviated

> version of The Big Down:

> http://www.etcgroup.org/documents/littlebigdown.pdf

>

> For a critique of the strategy of converging

> technologies and an

> analysis of its implications, see " The Little BANG

> Theory "

> http://www.etcgroup.org/documents/comBANG2003.pdf

>

> For an introduction to the issues surrounding the

> toxicity of

> engineered nanoparticles, see " No Small Matter! " and

> ETC Group's

> Occasional Paper " Size Matters! " for a more detailed

> analysis and a

> list of products containing nanoparticles.

>

http://www.etcgroup.org/documents/Occ.Paper_Nanosafety.pdf

>

> For a short list of the most worrying scientific

> findings involving

> nano-scale technologies, see Ten Toxic Warnings in

> " Nano's Troubled

> Waters "

>

http://www.etcgroup.org/documents/GT_TroubledWater_April1.pdf

>

> For a brief analysis of nanotech governance, see " 26

> Governments

> Tiptoe Toward Global Nano Governance "

> http://www.etcgroup.org/documents/globalgovfinal.pdf

>

> For ETC Group's most recent Communiqué (May/June

> 2004) on the policy

> debate surrounding nanotechnology health and safety

> issues, see:

>

http://www.etcgroup.org/documents/livingcolorfinal.pdf

>

> To view an unofficial document generated by the US

> Environmental

> Protection Agency (EPA) listing well over 100

> commercial products

> based on nanotechnologies, see:

>

http://www.etcgroup.org/documents/nanoproducts_EPA.pdf)

>

>

> 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).

>

>

>

> Endnote:

>

> (1) Antonio Regalado, " Nanotechnology Patents Surge

> as Companies Vie to

> Stake Claim, " Wall Street Journal, June 18, 2004;

> Page A1.

>

>

>

>