A Guangzhou expert recently warned that nanotechnology has a non-environmental-friendly aspect that requires attention of researchers and others working in developing the technology that is expected to have a great impact on economic and social development as well as on national defense in the 21st Century.

Gong Kecheng, director of the Institute of High Polymer Structure and Modification of the South China University of Technology, said that abuse of the technology could lead to over-consumption of the earth’s limited resources and even lead to ecological disaster.

“The scientific circle has never breathed a word about the possible negative impact of the nanotechnology. This is dangerous. Researchers should weigh basic ethical considerations to guard against any risk of possible ecological disaster,” said Gong.

Examples of human suffering caused by new technology are available in history. For example, Albert Einstein’s discovery of the theory of relativity opened the door for humans to use nuclear energy, but it also led to the birth of the atomic bomb.

Nanotechnology has negative potentials that could cause ecological disaster if they go unregulated, Dong said. For example, the residue of raw materials used in the manufacture of integrated circuit chips includes highly toxic substances, such as gallium arsenide. Japan’s manufacture of some 610 million mobile phones over the past decade means also that about one ton of arsenide substances were released in their manufacture.

According to Gong, whose specialty is polymers and nanotechnology composite materials, too many researchers are using out-dated methods that produce active and toxic by-products that can cause incalculable damage when released into the environment.

Some people are also trying to develop nanotechnology asbestos products, said the professor, placing workers in danger of developing lung diseases through the inhalation of micron asbestos.

With nanotechnology research still in its infancy and with industrial applications just beginning, it is not too late to exercise controls, Professor Gong said

The Institute of High Polymer Structure and Modification led by Professor Gong has long been engaged in the environmental-friendly development of nanotechnology to produce a composite board made of sand, stone, soil and recyclable industrial wastes. Compared with traditional plywood, the institute’s method saves wood and eliminates the use of formaldehyde which is toxic.

(www.China.org.cn by Chen Qiuping 08/24/2001)