The agenda for John Dalli's grilling by the European Parliament before his appointment as Commissioner included the ethical problems raised by nanotechnology. What are they?
Any person who has seen the Jubilee church in Rome or the City of Music in Chambery will have marvelled at the uncanny whiteness of these buildings. It was probably explained to him that the concrete had been enriched with nanoparticles of titanium.
The firm Italcementi has specialised in the production of anti-pollution cement which destroys the oxides of nitrogen emitted by vehicles. Some local councils as in Vanves have set up self-cleaning pavements, which is another application of nanotechnology that is becoming less and less rare, but is also not without fuelling controversy.
Results of this kind are obtained through the manipulation of molecular architecture which produces changes in the properties of the matter in question. In 2009, according to Dorothee Browaeys, in an article in Etudes last March, which I am using as a main source, there were about 1,000 nonotechnological products.
For instance, there are nano reconstructions of carbon which make it several times stronger and lighter than steel. The same sort of processing has also been used to programme synthetic organisms and other novel artefacts.
Because nanotechnology alters the usual behaviour of materials, it can be dangerous. Nanosystems may eventually escape human control and possibly auto-organise and even reproduce themselves.
Some scientists have warned against another more banal danger in the everyday applications of nanotechnology. For example, dioxide of titanium is being added to sunscreen lotion because it protects from ultraviolet rays. The nanoparticles of titanium are transparent instead of white, and consequently preferred by cosmetic makers.
Another application is the use of nanosilicas to give a creamy texture to foodstuffs like soups and sauces. A third example is that of nanosilver, used in almost half of the nanoproducts on the market as in socks and underwear to protect against bad smells, as a coating of kitchen utensils, and in refrigerators and laptops. In many of these cases, researchers have found toxicity.
Moreover, nanoparticles have been found in parts of bodies that are inaccessible to less subtle particles. Nanoparticles can be inhaled and even reach the brain and cause serious damage.
This is the reason why it falls within Dalli's remit to update the cautionary provisions already taken by Samco over which he presides, since there prevails great uncertainty, especially about ensuring the safety of nanotechnologically packaging.
Are there any greater expectations of more radical developments in this area that account for the fact that nanotechnology is attracting so much attention from politicians and philosophers?
There are those who hold that there is a convergence of equivalencies between the organisational codes of matter, electronics, informatics and living beings. In other words, there is a structural correspondence between bits, atoms, neurons and genes, referred to by some as the Bang, a really explosive convergence.
Four developments are being foretold as likely to happen over the next seven years. The first is microelectronics, in which miniaturisation will be pushed to the extent that the components of systems will all be molecular.
The fear is spreading that nanosystem electronics, involving such devices as chips inserted as identity markers in the body and connected to data banks and related control systems, will result in a society over which Nano Brother presides.
The second is the production of reactive materials such as packaging and clothing that behave like smart cards and change according to use and environment. Such packaging and clothing changes its function from warming to cooling in response to climatic condition.
Thirdly, nanosystems will be combined and nanorobots will come into operation. Living organisms are, in fact, the model and source of inspiration of nanotechnology. Its engineers are hardly doing anything more than imitating the production by living organisms of such materials as wood, bone, shells, the thread out of which cobwebs are spun.
The living organism itself is considered by many as if it were an electronic circuit, with each functionally specific component capable of being altered or copied. Pharmacists are out to produce nanocapsules to target exactly and exclusively diseased parts of the body, such as tumours.
Other medical researchers are developing nano brain implants to cure such diseases as Parkinson's. Naturally, these efforts raise the spectre in some minds of the robotisation of the human body.
The fourth will be the self-organising and self-reproducing nanosystems that I mentioned as a source of fear in the beginning.
How is all this relevant to Malta?
The European Union approved the investment of €3.5 billion between 2007 and 2013 for research in the Nanosciences. When I was chairman of the Malta Council for Science and Technology, there was already quite a bit of interest at the University in the area. Indeed, there were some who were convinced that the council should give it high priority.
I have not myself followed the matter at all closely and do not know what the status of the matter is. No doubt, Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, who has now been appointed chairman, will be looking into this question in the light of the changed context.
At the same time, Dalli is surely taking stock, among other things, of the European Parliament's remonstrations that, despite the huge investment it approved, "knowledge and information are considerably lacking", and that nanolegislation needs a complete review before 2011.
Fr Peter Serracino Inglott was talking to Miriam Vincenti.