NanoEthicsBank

The NanoEthicsBank (NEB), an online database with interactive capabilities, seeks to provide students, researchers, and the wider public a reliable resource on ethical issues and societal implications of nanotechnology. Begun in late 2005 as a U.S. National Science Foundation-funded project at the Illinois Institute of Technology's Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions, this evolving electronic archive collects and annotates two main types of materials: descriptive materials (salient reports and analytical articles about ethics and societal implications), and normative documents that prescribe conduct.

Examples of normative documents in the NEB include best practices, safety guidelines, and standards for nanoterminology, as well as government mandated standards and programs for voluntary compliance. The NanoEthicsBank was built in collaboration with the NanoBank (http://www.nanobank.org/), a database created by a team of researchers based at the University of California, Los Angeles, that gathers econometric data on nanotechnology. In the first four years of operation, NEB delivered classifications and abstracts for over 1,300 articles and documents.

Criteria for selection of materials to include in the NEB are informativeness, relevance, credibility of the source, and clarity in representing a position or constituency in the conversation. The database covers four main subject areas: (1) national and international initiatives to build a regulatory framework for nanotechnology; (2) public perception and acceptance of nanotechnology; (3) the development of best practices and voluntary standards; and (4) items focusing on responsible development of nanotechnology. The NEB can be searched by keyword, combined field searching, or Boolean searching, and includes a controlled key terms dictionary that allows users to choose a subject area to search, such as “medical use”or “health aspects.”

The NEB began by collecting salient analytical and scholarly reports, such as the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering's “Nanoscience and Nanotechnologies: Opportunities and Uncertainties,” which was one of the first publications to thoroughly explore potentially adverse consequences of nanotechnology development. As scrutiny of nanotechnologies increased, the NEB's collection expanded to incorporate a growing number of journal articles, conference reports, and publications from scholarly and other organizations. After peaking in 2006, the number of selected descriptive materials decreased, while the number of normative documents being collected continued to grow. From 2005 to 2009, only a small number of government regulations appeared. These include the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulations in the European Union in 2006, and the launch of voluntary reporting schemes by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the United Kingdom's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. This trend seems to reflect the need, which the majority of salient reports cite, for more information on the health and safety effects of engineered nanomaterials before an effective regulatory framework can be put in place.

Most recently, descriptive materials being tracked for the database have concentrated on the regulation and safe use of nanomaterials in medicine, manufacturing, and consumer products. The number and focus of normative materials, codes, guidelines, and standards under development continues to grow at a steady pace. For example, as of March 2010, the International Organization for Standardization was in the process of developing at least 30 new standards. The NEB is a useful resource for tracking the perception and understanding of ethical implications of nanotechnology and the efforts of academic institutions, industrial organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and national and international government organizations to address these issues.

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