Nanotechnology has a huge number and variety of applications across many different sectors. Potentially it could lead to more efficient and sustainable use of resources and have a beneficial impact for the vast majority of people throughout the world. However, as with all technologies there are also potential negative impacts on society. The main issues include privacy, social divide, communication, and risk. Privacy Ambient sensor systems can provide useful information such as pollution levels, traffic conditions and transmit this rapidly to portable devices, but they can also transmit information about individuals’ activities. As such the potential for abuse is present and the limits on the type of information that can be captured and collated need to be clearly defined by society in general through the legislative system. Privacy issues may also arise through advances in medical diagnostics allowing doctors to routinely screen people for the presence of genetic disease. Should such technology be made compulsory to allow earlier treatment? If so, then what about a patient’s right to choose? If not, then will health insurance companies demand it as a prerequisite? Who will have access to all this information and how will it be kept protected? Social divide As with previous technologies such as IT, nanotechnology could have the effect of widening the divide between the rich and the poor, or more specifically the developed and developing world. Primarily this can be through advances in healthcare, transport, energy supplies, etc which may be more available to the wealthy. However, paradoxically it may also come about through a decreased use of natural resources. Many of the precious metals and minerals that new nanomaterials are expected to replace, and thereby reduce our dependency on non-renewables, are mined in the developing world. The loss of this revenue without a strategy for its replacement, will have a negative impact on the economy and development of these countries. To address these potential impacts, nanotechnology strategies are being exploited in different countries that specifically address that country’s needs. Communication Acceptance of new developments and in particular the wide-ranging effects of nanotechnology, can only be achieved through communication and dialogue between scientists, industrialists, goverments and wider society. All too often in the past this has been ignored and resulted in misinformation and misunderstanding of the risks and benefits associated with the new development. This has been recognised by governments, research funding agencies and industry, and many now have initiatives that actively explore dialogue with social scientists and interested citizens, allowing the implications of new developments to be explained, concerns explored and opinions of different members of society incorporated into future planning. Risk Nanomaterials are being developed because they offer advantages to conventional materials. However, we still know little of the different effects they may have on human health and the environment compared with conventional materials. Several initiatives have been established by non-governmental organizations to consolidate existing published data, however to date there has been little concerted effort by governments. This is starting to change as independent experts advising government policy recommend that fundamental research into these potential risks be increased. |