Infinitely small nanostructures will soon permeate your food,body
&environment on the grounds of improving structure,preventing disease
&enhancing traits,but their potential 2B toxic,invade immune systems or simply
behave erratically &unexpectedly could pose real dangers in a burgeoning
industry rapidly delving in2 the unknown
The Unknown Dangers of Nanotech
Infinitely small nanostructures will soon permeate your food, body and
environment on the grounds of improving structure, preventing disease and
enhancing traits, but their potential to be toxic, invade immune systems or
simply behave erratically and unexpectedly could pose real dangers in a
burgeoning industry rapidly delving into the unknown
Aaron Dykes / Jones Report | December 6, 2007
Nanotechnology could become a revolutionary force in the near future, but its
microparticulate nature poses uncertain risks and unknown dangers as it infuses
unchecked with foods, cosmetics, medical treatments, plastics and many other
materials which already permeate hundreds of consumer products.
Many scientists have recently aired their concerns in an apparent paradox--
the very developments expected to work wonders across the gamut of science,
medicine, technology and everyday life could expose consumers to the
vulnerability of nanotech's infinitely small size and potential instability.
The Economist reports that:
"Nanoparticulate versions of a [known] material can act in novel ways...
despite hundreds of years of experience in chemistry, it is not easy to predict
how a substance will behave when it is made extremely small. Plenty of research
suggests that nanoparticles of harmless substances can become exceptionally
dangerous. Materials, such as gold, that would not react to other substances
become reactive. [Yet] silver can have antimicrobial properties."
Despite an insufficient understanding of the adverse effects nanoproducts
could have on health and the environment, big money is pouring into an industry
expected to grow to $1 trillion by 2010 and several trillion by 2014, which
governments across the globe are already stimulating with cash injections and
heavy subsidies.
Channel News Asia expects that nanotech will "permeate almost every aspect of
our lives" in the "time to come."
Yet many are worried that nano-scaled toxic particles can be breathed-in more
easily and would more quickly accumulate in the body. The Economist writes
"research on animals suggests that nanoparticles can even evade some of the
body's natural defense systems and accumulate in the brain, cells, blood and
nerves."
"I think it's genetically engineering on steroids, because
nanotechnology has a much bigger application that will be applied to every
single aspect of the food chain.
It's much more scary," said Dr. Rye Senjen
For researchers like Dr. Rye Senjen, the primary concern is when food and
nanotech mix:
"I think it's genetically engineering on steroids, because nanotechnology has
a much bigger application that will be applied to every single aspect of the
food chain. It's much more scary," she said.
Nano-particles will radicalize food, serving new uncertain functions such as
preserving lettuce to an extended 30-day shelf life and enhancing food products
like chocolate with a dazzling synthetic sheen, and will potentially alter the
nutritional value of a wide range of other foods (for better or for worse).
"Some companies want to use nanoparticles as ingredients in the food itself,"
Simon Lauder reports for the Australian Broadcasting Corp. But the potential
dangers? "Nanoparticles could breach the body's defenses in ways no natural
food can," he says.
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But the AFP concludes that it is actually the science and tech crowd who are
more worried about these issues. "Public and political awareness of the
technology...
is amazingly low, Nigel Cameron of the Institute on Biotechnology and the
Human Future told AFP. The report also commented on a poll that surveyed
reactions to the emerging nanotech industry:
"The average Joe and Jane are more worried than the experts that nano will
cause job losses, an arms race and a loss of privacy, according to the surveys
published in Nature."
Sun Microsystems co-founder Bill Joy warned in 2000 against the potential for
nanotech to "destroy the biosphere on which all life depends," referring to its
offers of power as a "Faustian bargain."
Currently, nanotech is heavily subsidized and rapidly gaining investment yet
under-researched and thus far unregulated. Manufacturers aren't required to
declare what products have been created with nanotechnology-- and agreed upon
standards and practices are not yet well-developed.
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Industry experts are calling for more research money to better understand the
dangers and risks, which is currently hampered by factors including the "big
hands" difficulty of accurately measuring and testing the properties of such
tiny particles.
At the same time, the potential benefits of nano-medicine could be enormous.
Chemistry World reports that certain nano materials may be able to "kill the
H5N1 bird flu virus","incorporate copper oxide as an antifungal" and use
"silver for its antibacterial properties." There are also a number of serious
proposals to use nanobots in the repair of organs or to target viruses and
agents of disease in the blood system or throughout the body.
Further down the road of nanotech development, leading futurist and inventor
Ray Kurzweil foresees potential crises such as nanobot wars and epidemics
generated at the nano-level in his ground-breaking book The Age of Spiritual
Machines. Just think of the danger it could pose in the hands of the elite, who
already regard human life as a force to control, regulate and dispose of at
will.
The potential for autonomous, self replicating and possibly thinking nanobots
to either use or become mutating pathogens within the drama of a war between
nanobot factions or against mankind is beyond frightening yet well-enough
within the realm of things to come that it poses serious questions about the
survival of the human population... at least in Kurzweil's vision.
Whether or not such issues will remain science fiction or later become
reality remains to be seen. At present, nanotech is little more than a big
business opportunity with aspirations of infiltrating every niche in the
market. What its effect could be for health, food, environment, energy,
machinery, warfare or the human condition has yet to be seen. The nano world is
still too much an unknown.
FURTHER READING:
Experts: Nanotech Risk Higher Than You Think
The Economist: The risk in nanotechnology - A little risky business
Nanotechnology a 'bigger concern' than GM foods
Bill Joy: Why the future doesn't need us
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