Center on Nanotechnology and Society Created at IIT
Chicago, IL — September 28, 2005 —
A nearly $500,000 Congressional earmark is helping fund the creation of the Center on Nanotechnology and Society at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Housed in IIT’s Chicago-Kent College of Law, the Center will examine legal, social and ethical implications of nanotechnology.
Nanotechnology has been heralded as the key technological development of the 21st century. Yet, few entities exist to reflect on the present and future social significance of this emerging field.
"The hottest idea in business and science is now nano, the technology of very small things," said Nigel M. de S. Cameron, Ph.D., Director of the Center on Nanotechnology and Society, and Associate Dean and Research Professor of Bioethics at Chicago-Kent College of Law. "As we work on manipulating matter at the level of molecules and atoms, our powers over nature -- including human nature -- will rise so fast they could get out of control. So, side by side with nano, we must generate a profound discussion of how to use it for the benefit of all of us. That's why we have started the Center on Nano and Society, which may be the first of its kind. The human dimension may finally prove the biggest story of the 21st century."
To achieve these goals, Nano and Society brings the foremost scholars and researchers in law, ethics, technical areas, and the social sciences together with leaders in business and industry. Nano and Society also employs a number of vehicles in its efforts to focus a national conversation about nanotechnology and human dignity, including its website (www.nano-and-society.org), the Chicago Nano Forum, and national conferences.
Diverse Viewpoints Shared at IIT Center on Nanotechnology and Society’s First Forum
Diverse viewpoints on nanotechnology’s impact on society were presented to nanotechnology experts from business, science, law, and the social sciences during the inaugural event of the Chicago Nano Forum, hosted by the Illinois Institute of Technology’s (IIT) Center on Nanotechnology and Society (Nano & Society).
The October 7 program at IIT’s Chicago-Kent College of Law focused on the intersection of nanotechnology, risk and ethics, and featured Brent Blackwelder, one of Washington's leading environmental lobbyists and president of Friends of the Earth; Nik Rokop, leader of the Chicago Microtechnology and Nanotechnology Community and CEO of nLake Technology Partners, LLC; Vivian Weil, Illinois Institute of Technology nanoethicist and director of the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions; and Joan Lebow, a partner with Lebow & Malecki, LLC, who specializes in health law, and a Chicago-Kent College of Law adjunct faculty member.
Nigel M. de S. Cameron, Nano & Society director, opened the program by sharing the Center’s goal of catalyzing the national discussion on the ethical, legal and societal implications of nanotechnology, which has been billed as “the killer app” of the 21st century. Posing questions about what the technology means for the human future.
Rokop provided an optimistic view: “(nanotechnology is) the next extension of technical progress” and that such innovation often initially meets with resistance. He said industry is concerned with the environmental and health safety issues, and desires to understand the ethical and societal issues in order to produce nanotechnologies that are beneficial.
Blackwelder warned that nanotechnology has the potential to follow in the footsteps of genetically modified food and become the next biotechnology fiasco. He also called for a moratorium on the commercial manufacturing of nanoproducts until their health and environmental effects have been evaluated.
Weil, who has served as an ethicist in National Science Foundation nanotechnology initiatives, pointed to the increasing gap between science, and regulation and ethics. However, she said that the nascent stage of nanotechnology provides an opportunity “to avoid errors made with the introduction of other technologies.”
Lebow said that it is natural for law to follow technology, but called for thoughtful reflection about how to regulate it appropriately before the science further outpaces law in this area. Specifically, she expressed concerns that the workforce engaged in nanotechnology research and manufacturing are, de facto, the first human subjects of this new technology.
Following their formal presentations, panelists took questions from the audience on the nascent status of regulatory and ethical issues related to nanotechnology. A webcast of the event is available on Nano & Society’s website.
Founded in 1890, IIT is a Ph.D.-granting technological university awarding degrees in the sciences, mathematics and engineering, as well as architecture, psychology, design, business and law. IIT’s interprofessional, technology-focused curriculum prepares the university’s 6,200 students for leadership roles in an increasingly complex and culturally diverse global workplace.
