A Roadmap for Ethics in Nanotechnology

  Vivian Weil, Ph.D., Director
  Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions

Nanotechnology is an emerging technology still in its infancy in the view of knowledgeable observers. (See the summer 2005 issue of the National Academies' periodical, Issues in Science and Technology.1) The term "nanotechnology" serves as a kind of marketing term to encompass a wide range of disciplines and technological initiatives and to embrace the important enabling technologies, such as the scanning, tunneling microscope. Research and development (R&D) in disciplines, including chemistry, physics, biology, material science, electronics, and computing, have been vigorously fueled by both government and industry funding. However, research and development must not outpace the assessment of the risks and uncertainties associated with nanotechnology innovation. Five key ethical concerns in nanotechnology are: (1) the effects on human health; (2) the environmental impact; (3) the impacts on the workforce; (4) the impacts in the workplace; and (5) the issues of justice and fairness.

Very little is known about effects of nano particles, tubes, and other nano materials on humans and the environment. With respect to the workplace, concerns focusing on workers, those on the frontline of exposure, have begun to elicit toxicological investigation. However, questions about effects, short- and long-term, of products containing nano compounds that are already in the marketplace have yet to be addressed. The increase of these products raises disposal issues. Early limited findings of distinctive toxic effects in rats, mice and fish from exposure to nano materials add to the concerns that warrant concerted further investigation.The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies report, Implications of Nanotechnology for Environmental Health (2005), states that "very little is known about engineered particles and how they interact with human organisms."² The report notes the evaluation of this problem by David Warheit of the DuPont Company, a leading investigator of toxic effects:
[He] suggested that developing a working hypothesis for the determination of particle toxicity will depend on the capacity of the particles to cause cell and lung injury, promote inflammation, inhibit microphage function,and persist in the lung ... Warheit observed that species differences complicate research; for example, rats appear particularly sensitive to particle induced pulmonary toxicity. Some current hypotheses suggest that some engineered nanoparticles may be more toxic (inflammatory) than other fine-sized particles of identical composition ... This concept is based primarily on a system of evaluation of three particle types: titanium oxide, carbon black, and diesel particles. However, he noted that the current hypotheses are based on a paucity of data.³

Standards for responsible management of nano R&D and professional ethical standards for investigators in nano facilities in universities and companies are needed. Ethics can be integrated into the educational curriculum of students and into professional practice (i.e., scientific research ethics, engineering ethics, medical ethics, etc.). If consumers and the general public are to be protected from the unintended negative impacts of nanotechnology, nano specialists in universities and companies must identify these risks as part of their technical investigation before introducing a nano product into the marketplace. Moreover, in order to build public trust, they must enter into dialogue with members of the public in a variety of settings and use what they learn from the pulic as feedback that shapes further development. Not only is knowledge of risk the consumer's right, but as evident from the public reaction to (or rejection of) genetically modified products, genomics and nuclear power, public trust is also critical to the success of such products.

An ethical framework that sets out professional standards in the nano domain will help to ensure environmental health,safety in the workplace and the welfare of the general public, and will serve to close the gap between research and application, and between industry and academia. As nanotechnology is still in its infancy, the time is ripe for prudent, rigorous, scientific, and ethical scrutiny to inform the development of appropriate scientific and ethical standards, as well as agency regulation.

Adapted from a presentation on October 7, 2005 by Vivian Weil.

Vivian Weil, Ph.D., is the Director of the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions and Professor of Ethics at Illinois Institute of Technology.

¹ Available at http://www.issues.org/issues/21.4/, lasted visited October 25,2005.
² Lynn Goldman and Christine Coussens, The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, National Academy of Sciences, Implications of Nanotechnology for Environmental Health, 2 (2005).
³ Id