Daily Archives: January 4th, 2008

Is the nanotech “gray-goo” disaster already here?

From The Daily Mail :

A breed of Frankenfood is being introduced into human diet and cosmetics with potentially disastrous consequences, experts said last night.

Academics, consumer groups and Government officials are warning that the arrival of nanotechnology threatens dangerous changes to the body and the environment.

The particles it uses are so small – 80,000 times thinner than a human hair – that they can pass through membranes protecting the brain or babies in the womb.

Nano health supplements, such as antioxidants, are already on the market while the first of hundreds of new foods are expected to arrive in the next 12 months.

However, the products are being introdeduced without any regulation or independent assessment to ensure they are safe – mirroring the controversy over the launch of GM foods ten years ago.

The stink over Genetically Modified foods still rages. Monsanto has been severely scrutinized the past few years over it’s GM seeds at home and internationally (link).

Unregulated nanotechnology is akin to playing Russian Roulette with two loaded chambers instead of one. Nanotech can be one of the greatest tools ever invented by mankind, but do I need to say it? Every one of Man’s inventions can be either tool or weapon. And as the article states, it’s already used extensively in cosmetics and paints. It wouldn’t take much for an unscrupulous government (or the NWO if they haven’t already) to weaponize nano.

Visions of Greg Bear’s Blood Music Michael Crichton’s Prey come to mind.

Article link.