One More Thing To Think About: The Ethics Of Nanotechnology In Biomedical Engineering Research And Development

When the National Science and Technology Council, the Committee on Technology, and the Interagency Working Group on Nanoscience, Engineering and Technology put their ideas together in the brochure, Nanotechnology: Shaping the World Atom by Atom, they told the lay public that nanotechnology promises to fundamentally transform human life. This publication lists ‘major improvements to human health and to the practice of medicine’ as among the areas of change to come with the emerging capacity to manipulate atoms and otherwise work at the nanoscale. It also states that nanotechnology will lead to a new generation of prosthetic and medical implants “whose surfaces are molecularly designed to interact with the body.” And, that those nanoscale devices will be able to attract and assemble raw materials in bodily fluids to regenerate bone, or other missing or damaged tissues. Other amazing possibilities offered in the report are that nanostructured vaccines could eliminate hazards of conventional vaccines that rely on viruses and bacteria, and that nanotubules in the body could conceivably take up drug molecules and release them slowly over time. Chips sized home diagnostic devices with nanoscale detection and processing components that could fundamentally alter then management of illnesses and medical care, are highlighted as another potential outcome of the development of nanotechnology.