Nanotechnology and global Bioethics
| Autor | María Casado |
| Cargo | Directora del Observatori de Bioètica i Dret UB. Titular de la Cátedra UNESCO de Bioética UB. |
| Páginas | 47-63 |
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The Observatory of Bioethics and Law (Observatori de Bioètica i Dret) Opinion Group was formed in 1996 to respond to bioethics issues arising from advances made in biotechnology and biomedicine whose social and legal implications are debated in many academic and public areas.
This debate has now spread to include breakthroughs in nanoscience and nanotechnology whose research and applications provide bioethical discoveries which challenge previous problems. Their impact is clear from the fact that a new name has been coined to describe an ethical way applied to this technical-scientific development: nanoethics. However, despite the multidisciplinary, intersocial and interlegal complexity of this phenomenon and the clear emphasis on evaluating risk, the ethical issues raised are still in the territory of human nature and identity, social justice and social and economic inequalities, privacy and autonomy together with today's biosafety and that of new generations in the future. More than just a different ethical reflection, the convergence and scope of projects, the potential properties of materials and products, the variability of applications in multi-clinical and environmental contexts lead to some impacts of risk and disputes of distributive justice that are difficult to clarify precisely because they are not on a nano- but bioethical scale. Thus the focus must be on specifying the problems and disputes that recognize Bioethics, yet identified and analysed in a wide frame involving research, public authorities, industry, the media and citizens, otherwise it would not be possible to achieve transparency of data on research and development, funding and patents, safety regulations in the various applications and weighing up products, which requires a cooperative bioethical scenario to achieve informed debates and decision-taking on regulations.
Nanoscience and nanotechnology investigate the formation of structures and the properties of material on a nanometric scale, i.e. between 1 and 100 nanometres. Manipulating the sizes, shapes reactivity, conductivity and resistance of nanomaterials allow researchers to develop nanoparticles, nanotubes, fullerenes, nanocables, nanosensors and combine them into nano-objects which can be used in health, the environment, energy and communications. This constitutes an unprecedented technological platform not only because of the interdisciplinary convergence of chemistry, physics, molecular biology, science of materials, optoelectronics, data processing and cognitive sciences but also due to the scope of multipurpose research projects and how they are applied in manufacturing nanotechnology products in all fields of industry. Already over sixty countries have set up projects and programmes
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to carry out research into nanotechnology with public and private funds worth tens of millions of euros which implies a high degree of competition to achieve the most profitable patents and involves significant industrial and commercial interests, where products are no longer just a dream; according to latest estimates there are over six hundred available in the market.
However, for all this convergence in technology and its multi-faceted applications what is particularly worrying is the miniaturization of components since at a nano-scale the properties of materials behave and are modified differently from macroscopic ones, and this opens the way to risks derived from the incidental effects such as toxicity and the current difficulty to control traceability, biocompatibility and biodegradation of inert materials and nanoproducts in clinical treatment, work and research areas and the environment in general. Loopholes exist in failing to detect the impacts and evaluate risks, the lack of standard information on the life cycle of nanomaterials and their products, the follow-up of safety in research and manufacturing processes and setting up cross-wide assessment and control regulations connecting research centres with industry both nationally and internationally. Indeed, opting for the benefits of nanotechnology increasingly coincides with breakthroughs resulting from research projects and nanoproduct development. However this incremental success still has a long way to go in terms of identifying the problems and bioethically channelling their social-economic and legal implications.
This Declaration covers:
- Identifying bioethical problems and disputes derived from the risks of applying nanotechnology in the field of biomedicine, the environment and biosafety and the consequences regarding affects on property, values and rights such as quality of life, fairness, privacy and safety
- Warning about the ethical, social and legal implications -prioritising research lines, deciding on funding and so on- to guide recommendations towards caution, safety and responsibility of the parties involved in the professional channels and citizens in general, and
- Encouraging dialogue between the research centres, government institutions, industries and society so that scientific knowledge and assessment of nanotechnology applications go together with principles and arguments which guarantee a transparent, effective debate. Including the media in this exchange since they
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selectively divulge scientific news which affects knowledge acquisition and creates public opinion.
Since 2004 the OBD research group has participated in a European network of excellence in Nanotechnology -Nano2life- in the Project A network for bringing nanotechnologies to life, and the Wordpackage Management Committee on Ethics (WP4) in the Barcelona Scientific Park. The group is currently working on a Project for the Ministry of Science and Technology called: "Nanobiolaw: ethical, social and legal implications of Nanotechnologies" and regularly cooperates with the Communications Area of the PCB in organising exhibitions to increase public divulgation of these breakthroughs and their applications so as to stimulate informed public debate.
Finally, as a result of this academic work and divulgation actions, the Group co-ordinated this time by Dr. Maria Jesús Buxó and Dr. María Casado, present this Opinion Document on Nanotechnology and Bioethics with the aim of raising responsible links among the actors and sectors involved in nanotechnology research and development thus fomenting a global bioethics as a guarantee of respect for fundamental rights.
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Nanoscience and nanotechnology are a fusion of knowledge and methodology pooled by studying, manipulating and manufacturing materials and functional structures on a nanometric scale. As referential proportions, atoms are a few tenths or hundredths of a nanometre in diameter, the double helix of DNA measures two nanometres wide, an average virus seventy five and the head of a needle, one million. Thus, the name nano does not refer to objects but to the scale and characteristics...
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