Lucid Moments: the nanoSteps Tech Blog!
2008 April 15: Nanotechnology and Agriculture
We're beginning to see a backlash against nanotechnology and its possible uses in maintaining the freshness of food from people who see nanotechnology as just another version of the genetically modified foods issue of about a dozen years ago.
Serious researchers, such as those at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, carefully consider how nanotech might be used to improve food production and possibly provide mechanisms for retaining food freshness for longer periods of time, while still being concerned with possible hazards of nanoparticles and/or nanomaterials in the food chain.
There are some legitimate questions about safety of nanoparticles in a number of products. And now, it looks like there are products with nanoparticles in the food chain.
Is this cause for concern? I think the answer is yes. Concern, caution, and acquisition of carefully (i.e. dispassionately) gathered data.
However, I don't yet believe that this is cause for distress or, worse, panic. We need to understand whether there is any toxicity in these particles or whether they are benign. Either is possible.
If the nanoparticles in food products are benign, then there's not much to get concerned about.
If they are toxic, then we need to know the nature of the toxicity, at what dosage, with what latency. Depending on the answers, there may be a great deal to be concerned about.
On the other hand, the answers might indicate that even with toxicity, there may be little to worry about. We have evolved to live in an environment which causes us to breathe, drink, and eat things that are toxic -- many of which are natural nanoparticles -- but, in low doses, survivable, perhaps even irrelevant in terms of health.
With regard to engineered nanoparticles, we don't yet know, which points out the need for significant testing, starting now, to identify or rule out health risks... and caution until we do know.