Nanotech worries scientists
This article was originally published in The Rose Sheet
Executive Summary
The potential environmental and health effects of nanotechnology worry scientists more than they do the general public, a survey published Nov. 25 in the journal Nature Nanotechnology finds. Lead author Dietram Scheufele, a professor of life sciences communication and journalism as the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Elizabeth Corley at Arizona State University conducted a national telephone survey of American householders and a sampling of leading nanotech scientists and engineers. Of the 363 scientists polled by Scheufele and Corley, 20% (versus 15% of the public) believed that new forms of nanotechnology pollution may emerge, and 30% (versus 20% of the public) expressed concern that the technology may endanger human health. "Nanotechnology is starting to emerge on the policy agenda, but with the public, it's not on their radar," Scheufele observes...