Development Ethical and Societal Issues Satyen Baindur PhD

Stewardship in Nanotechnology Development:
Ethical and Societal Issues
SATYEN BAINDUR, PHD
Ottawa Policy Research Associates, Inc.
OPRA Report 2006-4-1 Issued April 2006
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It is important to point out that while the ‘digital divide’ and the ‘biotechnology
divide’ have had a significant ‘North-South’ component, there are indications that the
‘nanodivide’, if it does come about, may well also have more of a South-South character.
This is to say that some of the major countries of the global South, including India,
China, Brazil and South Africa, are moving ahead with broad national initiatives in
nanotechnology, while countries like Korea and Singapore may already be on par with
countries of the North in their nanotechnology development. The vast majority of other
countries, however, including most of sub-Saharan Africa, are currently significantly
behind the rest of the world in nanotechnology awareness. Under such conditions, the
divide between countries of the South may be just as large, or even larger than that
between countries of the North and some of the advanced countries of the South.
Two aspects of any possible future ‘nanodivide’ deserve mention. First, if the
R&D priorities pursued in the North and the South diverge, because of differences in
demographics; consumer tastes; health needs or economic imperatives – then significant
sanitation, public health, water availability, and food needs of developing countries may
well go unaddressed, because of a lack of R&D capacity in the South. The second issue is
that a possible future ‘nanodivide’ is likely to exacerbate existing differences in
individual and population health attainment between countries of the global North and the
South. In an increasingly globalizing world, this will become ethically intolerable, and
moreover, will increase vulnerability in the global North to catastrophic health care
emergencies that arise from developments in the global South 12 . Thus a proactive stance
will build in foresight and policy analysis capacities with respect to such exigencies.
Of course, a possible ‘nanodivide’ could occur within
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nations too,
disproportionately impacting certain traditionally marginalized communities within the
North.. Analysis of mechanisms to ensure access and delivery of health benefits from
12 This is even more the case if human enhancement, discussed in the previous section, were to become
routinely available through nanotechnology, and remain restricted to people living in the advanced nations
because of a ‘nanodivide’. Should this happen, it is quite possible that the enhanced and natural humans
would have different susceptibilities and vulnerabilities to diseases.
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