---
title: "Impact of nanotechnology"
chunk: 3/3
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_of_nanotechnology"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:23:23.499696+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

Beyond the toxicity risks to human health and the environment which are associated with first-generation nanomaterials, nanotechnology has broader societal impact and poses broader social challenges. Social scientists have suggested that nanotechnology's social issues should be understood and assessed not simply as "downstream" risks or impacts.  Rather, the challenges should be factored into "upstream" research and decision-making in order to ensure technology development that meets social objectives
Many social scientists and organizations in civil society suggest that technology assessment and governance should also involve public participation. The exploration of the stakeholder's perception is also an essential component in assessing the large amount of risk associated with nanotechnology and nano-related products.
Over 800 nano-related patents were granted in 2003, with numbers increasing to nearly 19,000 internationally by 2012. Corporations are already taking out broad-ranging patents on nanoscale discoveries and inventions. For example, two corporations, NEC and IBM, hold the basic patents on carbon nanotubes, one of the current cornerstones of nanotechnology. Carbon nanotubes have a wide range of uses, and look set to become crucial to several industries from electronics and computers, to strengthened materials to drug delivery and diagnostics. Carbon nanotubes are poised to become a major traded commodity with the potential to replace major conventional raw materials.
Nanotechnologies may provide new solutions for the millions of people in developing countries who lack access to basic services, such as safe water, reliable energy, health care, and education.  The 2004 UN Task Force on Science, Technology and Innovation noted that some of the advantages of nanotechnology include production using little labor, land, or maintenance, high productivity, low cost, and modest requirements for materials and energy.  However, concerns are frequently raised that the claimed benefits of nanotechnology will not be evenly distributed, and that any benefits (including technical and/or economic) associated with nanotechnology will only reach affluent nations.
Longer-term concerns center on the impact that new technologies will have for society at large, and whether these could possibly lead to either a post-scarcity economy, or alternatively exacerbate the wealth gap between developed and developing nations. The effects of nanotechnology on the society as a whole, on human health and the environment, on trade, on security, on food systems and even on the definition of "human", have not been characterized or politicized.

== Regulation ==

Significant debate exists relating to the question of whether nanotechnology or nanotechnology-based products merit special government regulation.  This debate is related to the circumstances in which it is necessary and appropriate to assess new substances prior to their release into the market, community and environment.
Regulatory bodies such as the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration in the U.S. or the Health & Consumer Protection Directorate of the European Commission have started dealing with the potential risks posed by nanoparticles. So far, neither engineered nanoparticles nor the products and materials that contain them are subject to any special regulation regarding production, handling or labelling. The Material Safety Data Sheet that must be issued for some materials often does not differentiate between bulk and nanoscale size of the material in question and even when it does these MSDS are advisory only. The new advances and rapid growth within the field of nanotechnology have large implications, which in turn will lead to regulations, on the traditional food and agriculture sectors of the world, in particular the invention of smart and active packaging, nano sensors, nano pesticides, and nano fertilizers.
Limited nanotechnology labeling and regulation may exacerbate potential human and environmental health and safety issues associated with nanotechnology. It has been argued that the development of comprehensive regulation of nanotechnology will be vital to ensure that the potential risks associated with the research and commercial application of nanotechnology do not overshadow its potential benefits. Regulation may also be required to meet community expectations about responsible development of nanotechnology, as well as ensuring that public interests are included in shaping the development of nanotechnology.
In 2008,  E. Marla Felcher "The Consumer Product Safety Commission and Nanotechnology,"  suggested that the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is charged with protecting the public against unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with consumer products, is ill-equipped to oversee the safety of complex, high-tech products made using nanotechnology.

== See also ==
International Center for Technology Assessment

== References ==

== Further reading ==
Fritz Allhoff, Patrick Lin, and Daniel Moore, What Is Nanotechnology and Why Does It Matter?: From Science to Ethics. (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010).
Fritz Allhoff and Patrick Lin (eds.), Nanotechnology & Society:  Current and Emerging Ethical Issues (Dordrecht: Springer, 2008).
Fritz Allhoff, Patrick Lin, James Moor, and John Weckert (eds.), Nanoethics: The Ethical and Societal Implications of Nanotechnology Archived 2016-01-27 at the Wayback Machine (Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2007). Alternate link.
Kaldis, Byron. "Epistemology of Nanotechnology". Sage Encyclopedia of Nanoscience and Society. (Thousand Oaks: CA, Sage, 2010)
Approaches to Safe Nanotechnology: An Information Exchange with NIOSH, United States National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, June 2007, DHHS (NIOSH) publication no. 2007-123
Mehta, Michael; Geoffrey Hunt (2006). Nanotechnology: Risk, Ethics and Law. London: Earthscan. - provides a global overview of the state of nanotechnology and society in Europe, the US, Japan and Canada, and examines the ethics, the environmental and public health risks, and the governance and regulation of this technology.
Dónal P O'Mathúna, Nanoethics: Big Ethical Issues with Small Technology Archived 2012-02-25 at the Wayback Machine (London & New York:  Continuum, 2009).

== External links ==
U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative, Societal Dimensions
Nanotechnology Now
USC's Nanoscience & Technology Studies
NELSI Global
ASU's Center on Nanotechnology and Society
UCSB's Center on Nanotechnology and Society
The Nanoethics Group
Nanotechnology
Foresight Nanotech Institute
Center for Responsible Nanotechnology
The Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology
The International Council on Nanotechnology
The NanoEthicsBank
NanoEthics: Ethics for Technologies that Converge at the Nanoscale
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Nanotechnology topic page
UnderstandingNano
European Center for the Sustainable Impact of Nanotechnology
Center for the Environmental Implications of NanoTechnology