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From Pat Roy Mooney, ETC Group

Jenny Hogan’s piece on nanotechnology was baffling (20 December 2003, p 21).

She says the Canadian environmental group ETC is calling for a complete ban on nanotech. We have explicitly not called for a ban. Our policy calls for a temporary moratorium on lab research and new products until a national government, in conjunction with its scientific community, can establish a reviewable “best practices” protocol. We have never called for a blanket moratorium on all nanotechnology products or processes.

We wrote to a dozen leading commercial nanoparticle suppliers, asking for their own safety studies and information about others they may be familiar with. Only one supplier replied, and it provided no documentation. Further, we have participated in numerous formal and informal meetings and discussions with the nanotech industry and regulators on both sides of the Atlantic. None of the industry representatives we have met has dismissed our concerns about nanoparticle safety.

Hogan is quite right to say that ETC is primarily concerned about the ownership and control issues surrounding nanotech and its implications for the poor and for democracy. Yes, we have noted the worrisome parallels with the debate about genetically modified food – primarily because the nanotech community is constantly vowing not to repeat the same clumsy mistakes made with the introduction of biotechnology. But, contrary to their vow, they have been marching resolutely to biotech’s drum.

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada