Also in the Summer 2005 Issues in Science and Technology is an article from Environmental Defense giving many recommendations for improved nanotech policies, including: “Develop corporate standards of care. Even under the most optimistic scenario, it appears unlikely that federal agencies will put into place adequate provisions for nanomaterials quickly enough to address the materials… Continue reading Corporate standards of care needed for nanotech
ETC Group has issued a new 36-page report on Nanotech’s “Second Nature” Patents: Implications for the Global South (pdf), summarized in a two-page news release (pdf). The report lists various concerns about nanotech patents, including from Stanford’s Mark Lemley and the Nanobusiness Alliance, but the primary issue for ETC is access for poor countries. Multiple… Continue reading Reforming nanotech patents: proposals of varying practicality
The June 2005 Technology Quarterly report in the The Economist includes an update on the work of MIT’s Neil Gershenfeld (subscription required). There’s a summary of his fab lab project and some projections: “He admits that his far-flung fab labs are not the advanced molecular machines he foresees in the next 20 years on a… Continue reading MIT's Gershenfeld: Desktop molecular machines within 20 years
Small Times CEO Patti Glaza writes: “The nanotechnology industry needs to be able to compartmentalize itself, so that if and when the first widespread negative impact of nanotechnology is felt, people only demand the end to the harmful (or perceived harmful) applications and not demand the end of beneficial forms of nanotechnology too.” Indeed. Companies… Continue reading Small Times CEO to nanotech industry: Compartmentalize
Last Thursday I spoke at a Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition conference on nanotech, at which Jim Thomas of the ETC Group also spoke. While we agree that nanoparticles need better testing and regulation, one of the ETC handouts, A Tiny Primer on Nano-scale Technologies, illustrates the risks of making policy recommendations that aren’t quite fully… Continue reading ETC nanotech policy would ban most processed food
A new report on environmental, health, and safety (EHS) risks from nanotechnology: “Lux Research, one of a handful of investment advisory firms that focuses on nanotechnology companies, said corporations including Lockheed Martin and Kraft Foods Inc. spent $3.8 billion on nanotech research and development last year. Yet, it said corporate EHS officers are ‘mostly unaware… Continue reading Lux Research warns of nanotech risks
[Update: see comments for link to full article] In an opinion editorial expected to run in the Wall Street Journal (subscription only) today [Update: it ran June 14], Environmental Defense President Fred Krupp and DuPont CEO Chad Holliday outline the steps that policymakers, academics, businesses and nonprofits need to take to maximize the potential and… Continue reading DuPont and Environmental Defense advocate 10% for nanotech testing
Researcher John Warren writes about his (politically-incorrect) frustration with being asked to engage in two-way dialogue with the public. The headline writer summarized it as “Scientists are too busy discovering hard facts to engage the public in constant dialogue, says John Warren”, but that’s not right. Warren says: “The trouble is, for a meaningful two-way… Continue reading Frustrated scientist makes non-PC objection to public dialogue
Stacy Lawrence at Technology Review presents a graphic showing that knowledge and fear about nanotech anti-correlate: “In one survey, the more people knew about nanotech, the greater optimism they had about its potential benefits; the less knowledge, the more concern they had over potential risks.” I could not tell the source of this info; if… Continue reading Nanotech: more knowledge = less fear
A massive amount of new writing on societal and ethical issues is available in a special double issue on nanotechnology jointly published by HYLE: International Journal for Philosophy of Chemistry and TECHNE: Journal of the Society for Philosophy and Technology, edited by Davis Baird & Joachim Schummer. Read more for the tables of contents and links. Includes everything from "Noumenal Technology: Reflections on the Incredible Tininess of Nano" to a very long discussion of the Drexler/Smalley debate. ["Noumenal"? Now we must study Kant to understand nanotech? Argh. –CP] Source: ICON list.
