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'Immense Risk' As 200 Firms

Using Nanotech In Food

By Geoffrey Lean

Environment Editor

The Independent - UK

7-18-4

 

 

Two hundred companies are already working on inserting nanotechnology into

food, posing " immense " risks to health, new research claims.

 

The study estimates that use of the technology in food has created an

industry, now worth more than £1bn, which will grow within six years to

more than £10bn, with thousands of firms involved.

 

Last week, Prince Charles, writing exclusively in The Independent on

Sunday, warned that the technology, which uses microscopic particles, a

million of which would fit on a pin head, could lead to " upsets " similar

to the Thalidomide disaster, unless care were taken. Leading scientists

and the Royal Society condemned him for the analogy, but today he is

backed by a leading expert on the technology, Professor Gregor Wolbring,

himself affected by the drug Thalidomide.

 

Nanotechnology, which is set to revolutionise industry and everyday life,

deals with particles so small the laws of physics no longer apply. The

technology could bring great benefits, such as medicines precisely geared

to curing particular organs. But it also poses great dangers since some of

the particles affect the immune system. There are no special regulations

on their use and little research has been done on their safe application.

 

The report, by Helmut Kaiser, a German consultancy, concludes that, with

nanotechnology, industry is set to design food " with much more ...

precision, and lower costs and sustainability " . It adds: " The change is

dramatic, the potentials are immense, and the risks too. " The technology

is already used to preserve foods, and boost flavour and nutritional

values.

 

Meanwhile, a report for the US Department of Agriculture, describing some

of these applications, says that nanotechnology " has the potential to

revolutionise agriculture and food systems " .

 

Prince Charles's warning sparked worldwide controversy. Professor Steve

Jones, of University College London, called him " a classic woolly thinker "

, and Lord Winston, the fertility expert, said he had raised " spectres''

and " science scares " . Mark Welland, professor of nanotechnology at

Cambridge University, said the reference to Thalidomide was " inappropriate

and irrelevant " .

 

The Royal Society criticised the prince's comparison, since nanotechnology

was " not a new drug " .

 

But Professor Wolbring, of the University of Calgary, Canada, who was born

without legs after his mother took Thalidomide in pregnancy, called such

criticism " stupidity " . He added: " The prince's use of the ... analogy, to

draw our attention to the often unanticipated consequences of [well

intended] science, is timely. "

 

© 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=542140

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Oh you are a tease! Whatever the real story here, quoting P Charles is really

really making a laughing stock of everyone concerned with this issue. The

man is not renowned for his scientific knowledge and tends to make

pronouncements based on, well, on . . .well let's just say that his brain cells

would feel lonely on the head of that pin. Being heir to the throne, sadly, does

not always equate with intelligence.

 

Best,

 

Pat in Montreal ;=)