Chapter 3 – Safety and ethics of nanotechnology

Abstract Nanotechnology is one of the ways of improving many properties of materials, including physical, chemical, physicochemical, and biological, which can be useful for various applications in biomedical, textile, aerospace, manufacturing, cosmetics, oil, defense, agricultural, and electronics industries. Nevertheless, nanotechnology products, or nanomaterials (e.g., nanotubes, nanoparticles, nanofibers, nanowires, nanocomposites, and nanofilms), can be unsafe to human health because of the way they are manipulated and treated at near atomic scale. Since these nanomaterials are produced with mainly new manufacturing techniques and have various sizes, shapes, and surface energies, they may also create some uncertainties because of the lack of specific rules and regulations governing their manufacture and manipulation. This study provides a detailed report on the safety and ethics of nanotechnology and related ethical, social, philosophical, environmental, biological, and other legal issues. The information provided here can be very useful for training and protecting scientists, engineers, students, policymakers, and regulators working in the nanotechnology and related technologies.