Is nanotechnology rushing into a repeat of the biotechnology backlash?

By Georgia Miller. Reprinted from New Matilda 8 September 2006.
 
Unaccompanied by regulatory oversight or public debate, the nanotechnological revolution has begun.
 
Several hundred consumer products now include engineered nanoparticles. Global sales of nanoproducts were worth US$32 billion last year and are forecast to grow to US$1 trillion by 2011. But if you've failed to notice that the science of the small has left the lab, you're not alone. Nanotechnology is being commercialised outside of general public awareness or debate, without any serious attempt to involve the community in decision making about its introduction, and in the absence of regulatory oversight to protect workers, the public and the environment from nanotechnology's risks.
 
The Australian Federal Government continues to maintain a frustrating silence on its nanotechnology policy development. Industry Minister Macfarlane has failed to disclose if and when he intends to make public the long-awaited report from the National Nanotechnology Strategy Taskforce that was completed in June. There appears to be little chance that the Minister has any intention of seeking broad public input to the report as the Government finalises its 20-30 year National Nanotechnology Strategy in the coming months. The Federal Government's failure to involve the community in decision making around the introduction of this transformative new technology, the lack of transparency surrounding its own process of nanotechnology policy development, and its failure to regulate to protect the public interest, begs the question: is nanotechnology rushing headlong into a repeat of the backlash that greeted genetically engineered foods?
 
Nanotechnology is a powerful new technology for taking apart and reconstructing nature at the atomic and molecular level. Several hundred commercially available products now contain engineered nanomaterials – including transparent sunscreens, light-diffracting cosmetics, penetration enhanced moisturisers, stain and odour repellent fabrics, dirt repellent coatings, scratch-proof sunglasses, long lasting paints and furniture varnishes, industrial catalysts, fuel cells, burn and wound dressings, and even some food products.
 
Nanotechnology products expected within the next ten years include sophisticated nanodevices, synthetic organs and “smart