Environmental Regulation of Nanotechnology: Some Preliminary Observations

The relationship between new technologies and the environment is a complex one. On the one hand, various human technologies—ranging from “low” technologies like slash-and-burn agriculture, to “high” technologies like nuclear weapons—have done more than their share of environmental harm. On the other hand, new technologies are often cleaner and safer than the older technologies they replace, and may offer ways of remedying environmental harms previously thought of as beyond help. Both of these aspects are likely to come into play with molecular nanotechnology, a technology so new that, in truth, it barely exists yet. But though the actual accomplishments of nanotechnology at this date fall into the workbench or proof-of-concept stage, research is progressing at a speed that outpaces the predictions of the most optimistic prognosticators. (Indeed, nanotechnology has received so much attention—not all of it positive—that some are already pronouncing it a cliché.) If researchers continue to make progress at this rate, nanotechnology will hit the marketplace more quickly than did biotechnology, a field of endeavor to which society is still adjusting. It thus seems worthwhile to begin the discussion now. This all-too-brief essay will outline the basic nature of molecular nanotechnology. It will then discuss the likely environmental benefits (environmentalist Terence McKenna, writing in the Whole Earth Review, called nanotechnology “the most radical of the green visions”) and harms (some critics worry that rogue nanodevices will devour the planet) of this technology, and at least seek to begin the discussion of how nanotechnology might be dealt with in a way that will maximize the environmental benefits—which are likely to be enormous—while minimizing the potential harms, which, if allowed to materialize, are likely to be large as well.