Nanotechnology and Medicine: New Hope or New Hype?
By Jaydee Hanson, Director for Human Genetics and Nanotechnology Policy,
International Center for Technology Assessment, Washington DC
Nanotechnology is a powerful technology for taking apart and reconstructing
nature at the atomic and molecular level. The nano-scale is exceedingly tiny; it is the
world of atoms and molecules. It involves the manipulation of matter at the nanometer
(nm) scale, one-billionth of a meter. A human hair is huge by comparison, about 50,000
nm thick; the head of a pin is about 1 million nm across. A sugar molecule, which
measures about 1 nm, is about as big in relation to an apple as the apple is in relation to
the earth.
The ability to control materials at such a small scale has made nanotechnology a potential
boon to many medical technologies from micro (or should we say nano?) surgery, to
cancer treatment, to new drugs, to repair of bones with nano composites, and to the use of
nano-wires to reconnect damaged nerves.
Manufactured nanomaterials (nano-scale chemicals and composites) are not simply
smaller; they exhibit very different fundamental physical, biological, and chemical
properties than bulk (non-nano) materials. These new properties excite industries and
governments: Governments, universities, and businesses around the world are racing to
commercialize nanotechnologies and nanomaterials. Proponents refer to nanotechnology
as nothing short of the “next industrial revolution.” The US National Science
Foundation estimates that by 2015 there will be 2 million workers globally employed by
nanotechnology industries.
Some in Washington, D.C., believe that nanotechnology will do what no other
technology has been able to do: create true miracles. Philip J. Bond, then Undersecretary
for Technology in the Department of Commerce, told the World Nanotechnology
Congress in 2003 that:
On a human level, nano's potential rises to near Biblical proportions. It is not
inconceivable that these technologies could eventually achieve the truly miraculous:
enabling the blind to see, the lame to walk, and the deaf to hear; curing AIDS, cancer,
diabetes and other afflictions; ending hunger; and even supplementing the power of our
minds, enabling us to think great thoughts, create new knowledge, and gain new
insights.1
Nanotechnology thus becomes the latest miracle technology. Religious people will
recognize this as a religious claim, not just a technological proclamation. Recall that
worshipping technology, instead of God was the sin committed by Aaron’s creation of
the golden calf while Moses was on Mt. Sinai.2 Almost all technologies are over-sold by
their proponents. The post-World War II chemical revolution can be characterized by the
DuPont slogan, 'Better Living Through Chemistry.' But no one really counted on the
problems of disposing of so much new chemical waste. Then we were promised nuclear
power that would be 'too cheap to meter.' More recently, proponents of gene therapy
promised to cure awful diseases, but instead we have revelations of hidden deaths from
the experiments and, despite many trials, no real cures.
The debate about embryonic stem cells brings forth promises from many of the same
players. Now comes nanotechnology whose proponents promise not to just solve our
chemical, or environmental, or medical problems, but all of our problems.
Government agencies have been slow to publicly identify environmental, health and
safety risks of nanotechnology and mandate accountability. Only in the last few months,
did the President’s Council on Biotechnology hold its first hearing on the ethical
implications of rapid developments in nanotechnology for medicine.3 The Food and
Drug Administration has decided that it does not need to evaluate nanomaterials
differently than their larger form4. As a result, drug companies and cosmetic companies
assure the FDA that their products containing nanomaterials are the same as the earlier
bulkier forms of the materials and then rush to the Patent Office and assure it that the new
forms of the materials are so different that they are worthy of a patent.5
The fields of nanotechnology are moving amazingly fast, so the new federal funding is
needed now. Scientists at the University of Buffalo recently reported to the National
Academy of Sciences that they had succeeded in using nanoparticles to transfer and track
gene transmission from one organism into a different organism. 6Previously gene
"therapies" were conducted using viruses that could revert to "wild type" and in one trial
in humans caused genetically engineered cancers. Given the difficulties of using viruses
in gene therapy, nano-vectors may be the next way of doing gene therapy. Nano particles
easily cross cell walls, and indeed some seem particularly attracted to cell nuclei where,
in this experiment, they intentionally changed the cell’s genome. But what happens when
nano particles lodge in nuclei accidentally? Will new mutations occur faster with nanosized chemicals because they can so easily enter cells?
One of my environmental friends recently chided me for suggesting that we will quickly
be using nano-machines in our brains. My friend suggested that this was still the stuff of
science fiction, but was surprised to learn that already there are Parkinson and ALS
patients with computer chips implanted in their brain to enable them to control their
computers.7 Although these four-millimeter computer chips are not technically "nano"
sized, newer technology will use nano-sized particles and components. Already the
advantages of nanotubes to reconnect nerves and muscles are being explored in
laboratories.8
Nano-medicine is developing fast. The newly formed American Academy of
Nanomedicine held its second annual meeting at the National Academy of Sciences in
September 2006.9 Papers presented discussed nano-systems for the delivery of non-viral
gene therapy, an effort to develop a $1000 human genome, many nano techniques for
cancer drug delivery and cancer diagnoses, techniques for using nano technology to
repair nerves and brain tissues, and nano-participle research related to just about every
part of the body. What was missing was any fulsome attempt to look at how to regulate
this new technology. Of the 123 papers presented only 2 dealt with how or whether nanomedicine should be regulated and only one with the bioethics of nanotechnology. How to
commercialize nano technologies and how to patent nanotechnologies were the theme of
a half dozen papers. The 2007 meeting will have intellectual property issues and
commercialization of nano-medicine as one of its eight major tracks, but has not
designated ethics or regulation of nanotechnology as a track.10
The religious community will be needed to help the medical community focus on those
aspects of nanotechnology that will be of most help to persons. Much of the initial
funding of nanomedicine is from government sources. Nanomedicine can easily be
steered towards those aspects of medicine that are the most profitable and could neglect
those aspects of the technology that can be used for better cheaper medicine for the poor
of the world. So far, only the World Council of Churches has made any recommendations
on nanotechnology.11 It is time the rest of the church health community joined in the
reflection on these rapidly developing technologies.
1
Philip J. Bond, Undersecretary of Commerce for Technology, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Technology
Administration Remarks as Prepared for Delivery (World Nano-Economic Congress, Washington, D.C.,
September 9, 2003), available at: http://www.technology.gov/Speeches/p_PJB_030909.htm
2
See Exodus 32 available at: http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Exodus+32
3
CTA urges the President's Council on Bioethics to apply bioethics principles to nanotechnology
06/29/2007 The International Center for Technology Assessment submitted this testimony to the President's
Council along with oral comments by CTA staffer Jaydee Hanson. See also:Hanson oral testimony to
President's Council on Bioethics on Nanotechnology Hanson, Director of Human Genetics and
Nanotechnology Policy for CTA was the only Non-governmental person to testify during the public
comments section of the President's Council on Bioethics first meeting on nanotechnology.
4
See: FDA Nanotech Task Force Report Fails to Address Serious Risks to Health, Environment and
Workers 07/25/2007
5
An example of such a drug is Abraxane, a nano-engineered form of taxol, a breast cancer treatment. At
$4,200 a dose, Abraxane does not make patients live longer than the $150 generic taxol, but Medicare is
forced to pay for Abraxane if it is prescribed by a doctor. See: Alex Berenson, Hope at $4200 a dose. New
York Times, October 1, 2006 available at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/01/business/yourmoney/01drug.html?ei=5070&en=a751980cce
a02ceb&ex=1187236800&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1187128822-FtxPhyTSNXZmu8Im/ZSifg#
6
State University of New York at Buffalo, "Using Nanoparticles, In Vivo Gene Therapy Activates Brain
Stem Cells Technique May Allow Scientists to Repair Brain Cells Damaged by Disease, Trauma or
Stroke," available at: http://www.buffalo.edu/news/fast-execute.cgi/articlepage.html?article=74040009&hilite=nanoparticle
7
Justin Pope, "FDA Approves Human Brain Implant Devices," Associated Press, April 14, 2004. available
at: http://www.sciact.org/articles/articlepage.asp?Pageid=202
8
See Thomas J. Webster, et al, "Nano-biotechnology: Carbon Nanofibres as Improved Neural and
Orthopaedic Implants," 15 Nanotechnology 48-54 (2004), available
at:http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0957-4484/15/1/009.
9
See Program and Abstracts, Second Annual Meeting, American Academy of Nanomedicine, Sept. 9-10,
2006 available at:
http://www.aananomed.org/Scientific_Meeting/Abstract/2006%20AANM%20Abstract%20Book.pdf
10
See Third Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Nanomedicine General Information flyer
available at: http://www.aananomed.org/Scientific_Meeting/meeting.htm
11
See World Council of Churches, Transforming Life: Convergent Technologies Vol. 1. available at:
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/jpc/pa-booklet-nano1.pdf Note: this policy was approved at the meeting
of the General Assembly’s Central Committee in Porto Alegre, Brazil February 2007