Nanotechnology-Rd2

AC/UNU Millennium Project
Environmental Pollution and Health Hazards
Resulting From Military Uses of Nanotechnology
Round 2

On behalf of the Millennium Project of the American Council for the United Nations University, we have the honor to invite you to participate in the second round of a two-round Delphi study. The purpose of this study is to identify and rate important forms of nanotechnology-related environmental pollution and health hazards that could result from military activity, and to suggest military research that might reduce or eliminate these problems.

Lux Research estimates that more than $8.6 billion will be spent this year on nanotechnology R&D worldwide, and that 2004 will be the last year that governments outspend corporations in nanotechnology, as activity shifts from basic research to the development of applications. Little is known about the environmental and heath risks of manufactured nanomaterials. The military is a major force in nanotechnology R&D; and hence it can play a key role in understanding and managing nanotechnology risks in general. Your insights are invited to help shape that research agenda.

The enclosed Round 2 shares the results of Round 1 and seeks your views about additional potential environmental pollution and health hazards from future military use of nanotechnology, and research needed to address these risks.

The results will be distributed to relevant military and other research personnel and published in the 2005 State of the Future. Complimentary copies will be sent to those who respond to this questionnaire. No attributions will be made, but respondents will be listed as participants in the report.

The Millennium Project is a global participatory system that collects, synthesizes, and feeds back judgments on an ongoing basis about prospects for the human condition. Its annual State of the Future, Futures Research Methodology, and other special reports are used by decision-makers and educators to add focus to important issues, clarify choices, and improve the quality of decisions. In addition to the Millennium Project sponsors listed below, the Army Environmental Policy Institute is contributing to this study.

Please return your responses by December 25, 2004. You can respond using this on-line version or download the MsWord version from http://www.acunu.org/millennium/nanotech-rd2.doc and e-mail it as an attached file to acunu@igc.org with copies to jglenn@igc.org and tedjgordon@worldnet.att.net.

We look forward to including your views.

Jerome C. Glenn, Director, AC/UNU Millennium Project
Theodore Gordon, Senior Fellow, AC/UNU Millennium Project

Although no attributions will be made, for demographic analysis and so that you can be listed properly as participant in the 2005 State of the Future, and so that a copy can be sent to you, please fill in the information below:

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Introduction

The US National Science Foundation allocated US$30 million in FY 2002 for studies of environmental and health impacts of nanotechnology. In 2003 the European Union funded the NANOSAFT project to assess the technology's environmental and health risks. Over the next few years, the US EPA is funding several studies on environmental and health impacts of nanotechnology. Other organizations also began researching the facts and implications of advanced nanotechnology. As you address the questions below, please give special attention to research needs beyond these ongoing studies, specifically those that should be conducted by the military.

Your input is welcome on the full range of current and potential future nanotechnologies.

This second round feeds back the results of Round 1, and asks you to:

Add to the list of potential environmental pollution and health hazards that might result from military uses of nanotechnology in the time periods 2005-2010 and 2010-2025;
Rate suggested research projects, that if pursued would generate critical knowledge for the prevention or reduction of future nanotech environmental pollution and health hazards; and
Add to the list of major ongoing or planned studies intended to help understand the priorities in addressing these questions.

You need not answer every question; only those about which you have expertise.

Question 1: Please review the list of potential environmental pollution and health hazards that might result from military uses of nanotechnology in the time periods 2005-2010 and 2010-2025. If there are other important items not listed, please add them in the space provided. Importance is defined as potentially affecting large numbers of people in potentially irreversible ways.

1.1 Potential Use and Potential Impacts between 2005 and 2010

Military Use 2005-2010	Potential Environmental or Health Impact
Nanomaterials in sun screens, camouflage creams, and/or bioweapons skin shields	Absorption of nanoparticles through the skin and/or flushed into the environment and entering the food chain
Nanomaterials (e.g., nanotubes) in uniforms and equipment to make them stronger and lighter	Nanofiber-like materials that break off from uniforms and equipment and enter the body and environment
Nanoparticles in fuel as additives	Inhalation by military staff but also by the population in general
Nanoparticles as surface coverage to make it harder, smoother, stealthy	Erosion of these nanoparticles make them inhalable by military staff but also by the general population
Nanoparticles in weapons such as depleted uranium	Dispersion in the battlefield leads to transport towards cities and villages for further inhalation by the general population, also redispersion from surfaces of the battlefield
Nanoparticles created by the blast of high technology weapons/high temperature combustion processes	Diseases like cancer, lymphoma or leukemia in humans induced by inhalation of nanopollution or ingestion of contaminated food (also animals) See Twin Towers Collapse Phenomenon – inhaled nano-sized pollution
Nanosensors to detect trace concentrations of biochemicals	Absorption of nanoparticles through the skin into the body and environment, concentrating in water and soil, and eventually linking with natural organisms, causing unknown environmental changes
Nanoparticle accelerants and explosives	Accidental dispersal of nanoparticles into the environment
Aging of items with nanostructured surfaces releases nanoparticles that can be inhaled or digested	Nanopollution in the environment and contamination of environment (vegetables, fruits, etc), humans and animals. The contamination can also infect drinkable water and fish
Radio frequency identification tags to track soldiers and equipment	If implanted in the body could result in materials "leaching" in the body; those in equipment could enter the environment
More effective prophylactics and therapeutics - e.g. time-released polymers that would replace multiple vaccinations	Better control over contracting and spread of illness and disease; however, polymers would end up in the environment
Improved prosthetic devices (non-friction microscopic coatings) and implanted medical devices	Bio-compatibility for these devices and prosthetics has to be established

Please add other military uses of nanotechnology and their environmental or health impact

Military use 2005-2010: