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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CONCLUSION
To distinguish among different types of concerns outlined here, and to develop a
coherent conceptual scheme to prioritize them, one could use the time scale over which
the scenario underlying the concern manifests itself. For example, the concern about
potential health and safety risks from nanomaterials is an immediate or near-term
concern. It is manifest here and now. This is not to say that some health effects from
nanotechnology may not appear a significant time after exposure. It is simply to assert
that the concern is already with us, somewhat independently of the extent to which
product development in nanotechnology advances. Of course, over time, the concern may
change in intensity. Given that it is already present, however, action – in the form of
research into health and environmental effects; and precaution, in terms of lessons
learned from the past, seem quite warranted.
While technological determinism is not the correct paradigm for thinking about
the future, some real surprizes (both pleasant and not so pleasant) probably do await us in
the products and services, and the economic and social changes that nanotechnology
enables, facilitates or causes. There are alternatives to a deterministic view of
technological development: for example, a socio-technological process in which social
goals drive research, with society determining its needs early in the process, while
technologists set technology targets and basic science is directed to meet those
technological targets has been suggested. This perspective places the setting of social and
ethical goals at the beginning of the technological process, not analyzing the impact at the
end of the process. Also, science does not proceed ‘unfettered’ in this view; rather it is
directed toward specific ends that have been determined beforehand. A slight
modification visualizes an iterative process, with social and ethical considerations being
determined on a continuous basis, with a stakeholder process being set in place,
collaborations with natural scientists and technologists, and an ongoing evaluation
process (Gorman 2004). A policy and foresight structure for nanotechnology
development could be built around such a framework.
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