Development Ethical and Societal Issues Satyen Baindur PhD

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Stewardship in Nanotechnology Development: Ethical and Societal Issues SATYEN BAINDUR, PHD Ottawa Policy Research Associates, Inc. OPRA Report 2006-4-1 Issued April 2006 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ currently surrounds the ‘nano’ idea. For this reason, a careful examination of products claiming to use nanotechnology becomes necessary 4 . Not all the properties of nanoscale materials, however, are yet fully understood. The especially important issue of how nanomaterials will interact with the biotic and abiotic environment is still being actively investigated, and some preliminary results in are becoming available. Regulatory and policy interest in nanomaterials has, however, already been engaged in a proactive and forward-looking manner. As well, the possible risks from nanomaterials can be seen in the context of the known respiratory health risks of ultrafine particles (UFPs), fibres and filamentary materials, where the risk often arises, or is exacerbated, from the size and shape of the particles and fibres (especially when the size is in the nano range), and does not necessarily depend on the details of chemical composition. Since UFPs and nanoparticles (NPs) have the same size range, some of the same concerns are likely to apply to both. Furthermore, experience with materials such as asbestos fibres indicates that risk management strategies can and should be implemented even in the absence of complete characterization of the material. In this context, nanotechnology could take some lessons learned about risks and risk management strategies. For these reasons, nanotechnology has engaged the strong interest of policy makers, regulatory agencies and civil society organizations with a health and environmental risk emphasis. This interest has heightened in the past couple of years as investigations on the interaction of nanomaterials with the biotic and abiotic environment have been yielding interpretable results. In addition to purely health or environmental concerns, ethical precepts such as the principle of respect for human dignity; the principle of individual autonomy; the principle of justice and beneficence; the principle of freedom of research, belief and 4 4 On March 10 th 2006, the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington DC released its nanoproducts inventory based on a web search. However, almost immediately, some products were discovered that might not actually belong. A cosmetics product company. 4
Stewardship in Nanotechnology Development: Ethical and Societal Issues SATYEN BAINDUR, PHD Ottawa Policy Research Associates, Inc. OPRA Report 2006-4-1 Issued April 2006 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ conscience; the principle of proportionality of response; and the precautionary principle, also deserve explicit acknowledgment in the development of policy in the nanotechnology context. Ethical and societal concerns in the nanotechnology context have been voiced by a variety of stakeholders such as civil society organizations, NGOs, government officials, academics, journalists, novelists, scientists, technologists and businessmen. These concerns have taken the form of questioning whether one or other of the traditional ethical and humanistic precepts might be sacrificed as nanotechnology develops, and whether sufficient thought has been devoted to the societal impacts that such development might create (as opposed to the merely health or environmental). Given the voicing of these concerns on the one hand, and the vast potential that others see in this technology on the other, the nanotechnology context today is suffused in an atmosphere of ‘hope, hype, risk and fear’. Hype can be characterized as an extreme manifestation of hope, and similarly, fear arises from an extreme risk perception. Since nanotechnologies span an extremely broad ambit of potential applications, it is not easy (or even possible) to fully anticipate the different social and ethical concerns that might arise as different nanotechnologies are developed. Two fundamental points deserve emphasis. One is that some ethical and societal concerns underlie all technologies, usually throughout the course of their development, and sometimes even after they have reached a ‘mature’ status. Often the societal or ethical concerns that were articulated when the technology was conceived (or, on occasion while the technologies are still being developed) are not the ones that are most salient when the technology has matured. The other is that the actual deployment and application of technologies is strongly influenced by a society’s broader priorities, and is not determined solely by what is feasible technologically – the applications are not automatic or technologically predetermined. Therefore, two conclusions follow. First, since ethical and societal concerns will arise throughout the lifetime of a technology, it is more important to have in place a 5 5
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Development Ethical and Societal Issues Satyen Baindur PhD

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