Mitshubishi : Out front in Nanotech

This article focuses on the need for Japanese firm Mitsubishi Corporation to advance diplomacy to be able to sidestep opposition to non-particle manufacturing. Fullerenes, which are soccer ball-shaped carbon molecules also known as buckyballs, have generated outsized expectations ever since their discovery in 1985. Scientists think they could eventually be used in chemical sensors, fuel cells, drug delivery, cancer medicines, and smart materials. Yet while commercial demand for fullerenes is gradually emerging, so are fears that these molecules, which measure only a few billionths of a meter across, pose serious health and environmental hazards. The firm, which holds a number of key patents and licenses on fullerenes, began laying the groundwork for their commercialization in 1993, and company executives say they realized from the beginning that they would need to do voluntarily what many companies will not do until forced, which is to consider the concerns of stakeholders in academia, government, the environmental community, and the public.