Get those nanoparticles out of my roast beef sandwich!
Being a futurist, one must cover nanotechnology at a regular interval. Right now, most of the applications are springier tennis balls and stain-free pants, but soon it could be building materials as strong as diamonds for $5 a pound, cancer smart-bombs, and that sort of thing, so it’s worth keeping an eye out.
Nanotech evokes a lot of what my friend Sam Hooker calls FUD — fear, uncertainty and doubt. Most people are barely sure what it is, so the big story in the media is about trepidation, not facts. Take for example this article from European portal Food Navigator, entitled “Food body urges caution in brave new nanotech world”. See that? Some panel of food experts is warning us to be “careful” about the effect of nanotech on food.
Careful about what? They are scaring the public with the bugaboo about “particles only 10 – 100 nanometers in size.” But what does that mean? This august body of culinary safety reminds us that,
“In using nanotechnology, it is important to assess how products of nanotechnology will eventually lead to the release of nanoparticles into the environment and to estimate our subsequent levels of exposure to these materials.”
How on Earth is this worth a press release? They’re saying, in English, is that first we need to: a) figure out of any of this nanotechnology is harmful whatsoever and then b) decide what policies should be made as a result.
No kidding! Isn’t that what we do on all kinds of food and drugs? Isn’t that what the FDA does? Why scare the public about nanotech using “brave new world” analogies?
It’s like I told the Ministry of Research for a certain European country — nanotech could be influential on agriculture by giving you great new sensors to tell where soil needs fertilizer, exactly where pesticides could be of use, and where the crops are ready for harvest. Boom! Cleaner water tables and healthier soil. Plus, new kinds of packaging using nanotech could assist the transport of fresh healthy food all around the globe.
You don’t have to put the nanotech in your sandwiches if you don’t want.