Background

Nanotechnology involves the manipulation of matter on the nano scale, which is the range from about 0.000,000,001 -- 0.000,000,100 metres, or about 100,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. This can often mean the engineering of individual atoms to create devices so small they would be virtually undetectable.

As with any new technology, there are dangers associated with nanotechnology which will become more apparent with continued improvements in the field. Unfortunately, because of the competition for improvement, there is very little effort being put into exposing these dangers, with only about 2% of funding being put into research on them.

There is also very little awareness about the dangers of nanotechnology. Because of the uses nanotechnology has and could have in medicine, there is a large base support for it. People are looking at the good nanotechnology could do, and worry very little about the bad.

Nanotechnology has the potential to disrupt many different aspects of society. While there are many different risks, there are also different kinds of risks, which cannot all be solved with the same approach. Careful planning is required before we can continue

#Background