Subject Terms

Acedemic-Industry Relationships

    Partnerships between academic institutions and companies in nanotechnology research and development, benefits and difficulties of these partnerships

Agriculture

    Risks and benefits posed by nanotechnology and nanomaterials to agriculture.

Artistic representations of nanotechnology

    Fictional images of nanotechnology and the ethical implications of their use in popular media and scientific journals.

Best practices and guidelines

    A best practice is a technique or methodology that, through experience and research, has proven to reliably lead to a desired result. A commitment to using the best practices in any field is a commitment to using all the knowledge and technology at one's disposal to ensure success. Includes scholarly articles and reports on the development of best practices, voluntary standards, and guidelines for research facilities, industry, health care, etc.

Best practices and guidelines – Industrial

    Development, adoption, and examples of best practices, voluntary standards, and guidelines for manufacturers who produce or use nanomaterials.

Bioethics

    Bioethics is a discipline dealing with ethical questions that arise as result of advances in medicine and biology.[1] Includes ethical questions of the use of nanotechnology and nanoparticles in medicine and biomedical engineering.

Code of ethics

    Examples and discussion about the development of individual codes of ethics for the use of nanotechnology by individual institutions, and a universal code of ethics for nanotechnology.

Consumer products

    The benefits and risks of the use of nanomaterials in consumer products such as cosmetics, home appliances, cleaning products, etc.

Cost benefit analysis

    Cost-benefit analysis is technique used in economic appraisal that takes into account the estimated cost to be incurred by a proposed investment or decision, and the economic benefits. When used to evaluate environmental, health, and safety regulations, it identifies, puts a value on, and compares the proposal’s expected costs versus the expected benefits.[2] Scholarly articles discussing and critiquing the use of cost-benefit analysis to assess the potential environmental and health risks related to nanotechnology. See also Precautionary principle, Risk assessment

Developing nations and nanotechnology

    The benefits, opportunities, and potential ethical issues of developing nations and nanotechnology development. This includes:
    • development of a “nano-divide” where developed countries gain the benefits of nanotechnology while developing nations fail to profit,
    • potential uses of nanotechnology for water treatment, agricultural productivity, improved health care, energy distribution,
    • potential of nanotechnology research and development to stimulate developing nations’ economies.

Education

    Strategies and examples of efforts to educate scientists, business people, and the general public about the societal and ethical implications of nanotechnology. Includes reports from conferences and workshops, class syllabi, scholarly articles, and media coverage.

Emerging technologies - Historical parallels

    Comparisons of the future of nanotechnology development to other “disruptive” emerging technologies, such as genetically engineered organisms (GMOs) and nuclear energy. Scholarly articles examine the history of these technologies, and draw lessons on how to promote public engagement, public support for nanotechnology research and development, and to develop strategies for minimizing potential risks.

Environmental aspects

    Potential environmental benefits and risks related to the use of nanomaterials in consumer products, electronics, manufacturing processes, medical use, etc. This includes environmental risks posed through the entire nanoparticle lifecycle from production to disposal.

Ethical discourse

    Scholarly discussion on nanotechnology and ethics. The validity of the discipline of “nanoethics,” identifying the ethical implications of nanotechnology, what philosophers, social scientists, and scholars of science and technology studies can learn from studying the development of nanotechnology, etc.

Food safety

    Safety aspects and questions about the use of nanomaterials in food, packaging, and the manufacturing process.

Funding for research

    Funding opportunities for research on the ethical and societal implications of nanotechnology and nanomaterials, scholarly and popular media articles on levels of funding, testimonies and statements to governmental bodies and agencies.

Health aspects

    Scholarly and popular media articles, reports, conference proceedings, regulatory policies, and editorials about the potential health benefits and risks of nanotechnology and nanoparticles.

Health aspects - research

    Scholarly articles on research results and articles discussing studies of various nanoparticles and their affect on biological systems.

Human enhancement

    Reports and scholarly articles about the ethics of enhancing human performance through the use of nanotechnology, information technology, and biotechnology.

Law and legislation

    Laws or acts passed to regulate some aspect of nanotechnology, reviews of how existing legislation can be used (for example, applying the Clean Water Act to regulate nanotechnology) and scholarly articles and reports on designing a regulatory framework for nanotechnology research and development.

Law and legislation – United States

    Distinct laws or acts passed to regulate some aspect of nanotechnology in the United States

Law and legislation – United States – California – City of Berkeley

    Distinct laws or acts passed to regulate some aspect of nanotechnology in Berkeley, California

Media coverage

    Popular media articles on nanotechnology, scholarly articles and studies on how media outlets portray nanotechnology research and development. See also:Media Coverage-Studies, Media frames.

Media coverage-studies

    National and international studies done on how nanotechnology is covered in popular press.

Media frames

    Media frames refer to how an article discusses an issue or event. For example, many popular media articles about nanotechnology portray it as being the next great scientific revolution that may help find a cure for cancer or alternately, as having the potential to cause severe environmental and health problems if it is not properly regulated. As Robert Entman, a professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University describes it, a media frame “selects some aspects of a perceived reality and makes them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, casual interpretation, moral evaluation, and /or treatment recommendation for the item described.”[3] Includes scholarly articles and studies of the media frames used in covering nanotechnology.

Nano-biotechnology

    Reports and scholarly articles discussing the ethical implications of the convergence of biotechnology and nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology policy and development

    Scholarly articles, government reports, and critiques of nanotechnology policy and development both nationally and internationally. Covers how governments are addressing the societal and ethical implications of nanotech R&D. Use this term to retrieve all articles on nanotechnology development, or select below terms for information about an individual topic, region or country.
    Nanotechnology policy and development – Asia Pacific:
    Nanotechnology policy and development – Australia:
    Nanotechnology policy and development – Canada:
    Nanotechnology policy and development – Europe:
    Nanotechnology policy and development – Latin America:
    Nanotechnology policy and development – Trade Regulation
    Nanotechnology policy and development –United Kingdom
    Nanotechnology policy and development –United States

Precautionary principle

    “The precautionary principle is a framework for thinking that provides foresight in situations characterized by uncertainty, ignorance, and ambiguity and where there are potentially large pros and cons for both regulatory action and inaction.”[4]
    Though there are many formulations of the precautionary principle, the most common one was adopted as Principle 15 of the Rio Declaration from the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. “In order to protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be widely applied by States according to their capabilities. Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing const-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.” (Mitchem, 1474) Database includes scholarly articles defining and critiquing the precautionary principle in general, and its use in the instance of nanotechnology. See also cost benefit analysis,risk assessment.

Privacy and surveillance

    Scholarly articles discussing the potential impact of nanotechnology research and development on individual privacy, and the ethical concerns this type of technology raises.

Public engagement

    Articles, surveys, studies, and examples of efforts of public engagement by governments, academic institutions, and industry.

Public perception

    Articles, surveys, and studies on public attitudes towards nanotechnology and how these attitudes are formed.

Public trust

    Articles, surveys and studies measuring the level of trust members of the public have in regard to government entities and industry to oversee the safe and responsible development of nanotechnology.

Public understanding of science

    Scholarly articles, surveys, and studies on how members of the public assimilate information about scientific discoveries, especially nanotechnology.

Risk assessment

    the process of measuring and assessing risk, and developing strategies to manage it. Scholarly articles, conference proceedings, and reports identifying gaps in knowledge about the possible environmental health and safety risks of nanotechnology and discussing possible assessment policies and strategies to deal with these risks.

Risk management

    strategies developed to manage risks posed by nanotechnology and nano-material research and development. Includes scholarly articles on how to formulate risk management strategies, and examples of risk management strategies for industrial institutions.

Safety scares and incidents

    Examples of instances in which nanomaterials have caused, or have thought to have caused, an environmental, health or safety risk. For example, a cleaning product called “Magic Nano” caused many cases of severe respiratory problems in Germany. Later the product was discovered not to contain any nanoparticles, but some scholars and critics saw this incident as an example of why more research needs to be done on the possible health risks of nanomaterials.

Societal implications

    Scholarly articles, conference proceedings, reports, and opinion pieces on the societal implications of nanotechnology research and development.

Societal implications research sources

    databases and other information resources on environmental and health aspects and the societal implications of nanotechnology and nanomaterials.

Standards and standardization

    Efforts to develop a standard nomenclature, terminology, classification, basic metrology, and characterization of nanotechnologies and nanomaterials. Includes voluntary and mandatory standards that seek to cover the entire life cycle of nanomaterials in a variety of settings such as research labs, manufacturing, and in consumer products. Scholarly articles, reports, and conference proceedings from standard-setting institutions such as the American National Standards Institute and the International Standards Organization.

Sustainable development

    Economic growth policies that limit negative impact on the environment so economic development is sustainable over the long term. [5]Scholarly articles that discuss the development of national and international policies to promote the sustainable development of nanotechnology.

Technology assessment

    evaluating individual technologies from a societal perspective. Scholarly articles examining nanotechnology and other emerging technologies’ social impact.

Toxicology

    Toxicology is the study of the adverse effects of chemicals or physical agents on living organisms. Scholarly and popular media articles on the possible toxicology of some types of nanoparticles, summary of studies done.[6]

Workplace safety

    Safe handling of nanomaterials in the workplace, worker exposure to nano-materials.

References

  1. Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition. 1989
  2. A Dictionary of Business and Management. Ed. Jonathan Law. Oxford University Press, 2006. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign. 10 April 2007
  3. Entman, Robert (1993) “Framing: toward clarification of a fractured paradigm”, Journal of Communication 43(4), pp. 52
  4. Mitcham, Carl. Encyclopedia of Science, Technology and Ethics Detroit, MI: Macmillan Reference, 2005. p. 1475
  5. Collins Dictionary of Economics. 2006. Xreferplus. 11 April 2007.
  6. Toxicology Tutor I : Basic Principles Toxicology and Environmental Health Information Program of the National Library of Medicine.

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