Nanotechnology: Uncertainty, Risk, and Opportunity

• Author: G. Tracy Mehan III
• Pages: 94-97

94 Best of the Books: Ref‌lections on Recent Literature

Nanotechnology:

Uncertainty, Risk,

and Opportunity

By G. Tracy Mehan III

Nanotechnology : Health and Enviro nmental Risks, by Jo A nne

Shatkin. CRC Press. 167 pages.

From the May/ June 2009 issue of The Environment al Forum.

Four years ago I listened to my rst

serious presentation on nanotech-

nology. An expert on the subject

described his vision of an amazing pro-

cess whereby, someday, tiny nanoparticles

would be injected into your body in order

to “bulldoze” all the dangerous plaque out

of your arteries. at sounded pretty good

to me. Subsequent presentations described

nanotechnologies which could reduce the

load of an infantryman’s kit from over 70

pounds closer to 20, construct light-weight

space platforms, and produce bathroom

surfaces containing nanomaterials which

automatically kill germs.

We were deep into territory reminis-

cent of the 1966 lm Fantastic Voyage, in which scientists shrink a submarine

and its crew down to microscopic size a nd inject them into the bloodstream

of an a ssassinated diplomat with the object of removing a clot in his brain.

Who can forget Raquel Welch and crew ghting o those attacking white

blood cells!

However, one party pooper at the nano conference mentioned something

about these materials’ possibly crossing the blood-brain barrier. Another dis-

cussed uncertainties about persistence and bioaccumulation in the environ-

ment and sh.