Small size - large impact - Nanowerk

a reasonable amount of safety data is developed. We tend
to worry more about risks that are imposed on us than
risks we knowingly choose to take. Nanotechnologies
will provide finished materials in some cases, which could
appear in the label of a package to alert the consumer and
give them choice. But in many cases, nano-substances
will serve as intermediates or raw materials or catalysts,
substances which cannot be labeled, and which therefore
could evoke concern because people are going to be
exposed to them without any choice.
We worry more about risks that are new than the same
risk after we have lived with it for a while. While carbon
black and some nano-materials have been around for a
while, many nano-materials and products are new, with
different behavioral characteristics than anything we’ve
ever known. And of course the precise ability to
manipulate things on a nano-scale is new. This too could
feed greater public apprehension about this technology.
from those fields can guide the design of research to find
out how people are likely to react to nanotechnology as
it becomes more common, is introduced into their lives,
and as it gets more and more attention in the press,
a trend already beginning in many places. Research that
understands how people are likely to react is the first step
toward designing risk management strategies, including
risk communication, to address public concerns.
It is imperative that such research be done soon, so
it can be used to develop risk management and risk
communication strategies that will maximize public
understanding of nanotechnology, and public participation
in the process of its development and implementation.
With these steps, the potentials of this remarkable field
can be more fully realized while respecting public
concerns and insuring public and environmental health
and safety.
And we tend to worry more about risks from which
we personally derive less benefit, and vice versa. For
some nanotechnologies, for some people, the personal
benefits may well outweigh the risks. But when they
don’t – when the benefits accrue to someone else – fear
and resistance could rise.
It is important to respect the reality and the fundamental
roots of these perception factors. They cannot not be
manipulated away or circumvented with a clever press
release, website, or a few open public meetings
and dialogue. Human biology has found that the brain
is constructed in such a way that external information
is sent to the subcortical organs that generate a fear
response before that information gets to the part of the
brain that reasons and thinks “rationally”. In short, we
fear first and think second. No press release can undo
that biology.
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It is quite likely that, because of some of the characteristics
of nanotechnology listed above (human-made, hard to
understand, imposed, new, lack of trust in industry), that
the first reaction many people have when they learn about
it will be worry and concern.
Moreover, the brain is constructed such that circuits
stimulating a “fear” response are more numerous than
those bringing rationality and reason into the cognitive
process of risk perception. In short, not only do we fear
first and think second, we fear more, and think less.
Again, this suggests the likelihood that first impressions
many people will have of nanotechnology will be
predominated by caution and concern.
Fortunately, both the biology and psychology of risk
perception have been fairly well characterized. Insights