The Nanotech Threat from the Developing World

Much of the past decade has been spent worrying about the potential toxicity of nanomaterials. We have had numerous government-funded projects, scores of publications by environmental groups, intense lobbying demanding the labelling of nanomaterials, and even a law suit. But while the developed world agonises over the use of nanomaterials, much of the rest of the world is simply getting …

Nanotech Powered Glass – Poisoning The Well

An article in Uganda’s Sunday Monitor illustrates the difficulties of policing nanotechnology claims, with the arrival of a new nanotechnology powered kind of glass… There is frenzy in Kampala, especially among the middle class, of a new type of small glass, with near magical powers, claimed to enhance body mood and replenish water and other beverages with lost essential minerals. …

Toxic Food Nano Poison and a Slow Lingering Death for the Human Race?

A scientist injecting fruit with toxic nanoparticles before feeding it to your children to make lots of money? Friends of the Earth in Australia, who have been running a long anti nanotech campaign have just released a new report prompting sensationalist and confused headlines headlines like this – “Is nanotechnology a toxic food nano poison in Australia?“As always, it’s a …

Nanotech African Style

This week we are in South Africa, wrapping up the 8th World Nano-Economic Congress, which took a slightly different track to previous events which were very much focused on making the link between nanoscience and global business. Each World Nano-Economic Congress has a different focus depending on its geographic location, and some of the key issues addressed in South Africa …

You Are What You Eat

Food Production Daily  has an article “The evolution of the nanotech revolution” looking at nanotech in food. Before anyone screams “Frankenfood!!!” it is worth taking a look into some of the applications. There are of course, plenty of applications in processed food, but one has to wonder whether getting worked up about one more chemical going into a product consisting …

Nanotech and Development

More grumbling about the promise of nanotech emerges from the latest Woodrow Wilson seminar “Using Nanotechnology to Improve Health Care in Developing Countries.” The basic beef seems to be that while nanotechnology (and presumably traditional pharmaceuticals) could produce “new drugs for malaria, dengue fever and other diseases that disproportionately affect people in developing countries” they probably won’t, for reasons that …

Africa, here we come!

We’ve been running the World Nano-Economic Congress (WNEC) series of events continuously since 2003 all around the world: Washington DC, London, Dublin, Singapore, and Mumbai. Developed by my colleague Dexter Johnson who also runs our VIP Events for corporate clients, this has established the WNEC event as the only truly global nanotechnology conference. Now we are adding a new continent …

Nanotech and Food – The Real Numbers

One of the areas where nanotechnologies and chemistry become almost indistinguishable is in the food industry. Chances are that unless you grown your own food, most of what you eat will have had some contact with chemistry, whether it is packed under inert gas to prolong shelf life, or in the case of highly processed food, consists almost entirely of …