In the earliest days of nanotechnology, researchers and the public paid much more attention to potential applications than possible problems. The now-discreditedfear of ‘grey goo’ -- self-replicating nanobots run amok -- might seem an exception to this rule, but even that was somewhat romantic, as removed from the nitty-gritty reality of nanotech as a belief that Star Trek-style food synthesizers would soon do our cooking.
As research in nanotech -- particuarly, to be precise, in nano-scale engineering - has grown, with insights slowly migrating from lab to factory, concerns about the human and environmental safety of nanparticles have become common. Part of the problem is that rules for evaluating and regulating nanotech have lagged far behind the science. (This is not, for all you libertarians out there, a victory for free markets; in the absence of healthy regulation, fear and distrust are likely to spread, a la biotech agriculture).
The Woodrow Wilson Center’s Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies recently hosted a talk by former EPA official Mark Greenwood on nanotech regulation. His report, “Thinking Big About Things Small: Creating an Effective Oversight System for Nanotechnology,” is available on the Center's site, as is video of the presentation.
Thinking Big About Things Small: Creating an Effective Oversight System for Nanotechnology [Woodrow Wilson Center]
