| Posted: April 28, 2008 | |
The Nanoethics Group publishes nanotechnology anthology with Springer |
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| (Nanowerk News) The Nanoethics Group today announced that it has released a collection of important papers addressing a range of near-term issues related to nanotechnology's ethical and social implications. The anthology "Nanotechnology & Society: Current and Emerging Ethical Issues" is published by Springer, the world's largest publisher in science, technology, and medicine books and with more than 150 Nobel prize-winners on its author's list. | |
| The new anthology features sixteen papers focused on the most urgent issues arising from nanotechnology today and in the near future. Written by leading researchers, policy experts, and nanoethics scholars worldwide, the book is divided into five units: foundational issues; risk and regulation; industry and policy; the human condition; and selected global issues. The essays tackle such contentious issues as environmental impact, health dangers, medical benefits, intellectual property, professional code of ethics, privacy, international governance, and more. | |
| "While there are also more distant and speculative issues in nanoethics – and we've touched upon some of them in our previous work – it is important to also have a single volume focused on the more immediate problems facing nanotechnology, especially as policymakers and industry are interested in these issues first and foremost," said Patrick Lin, Ph.D., director for The Nanoethics Group and visiting assistant professor at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo). | |
| The volume is co-edited by Fritz Allhoff (Western Michigan Univ.) and Patrick Lin (Cal Poly, SLO; Dartmouth College), and it presents papers by notable names in nanotechnology and nanoethics, including (in order of appearance): Jean-Pierre Dupuy (Stanford), Paul Thompson (Michigan State Univ.), Arthur Zucker (Ohio University), David Berube (North Carolina State Univ.), Thomas Powers (Univ. of Delaware), Ashley Shew (Virginia Tech), Jeroen van den Hoven (Delft Univ. of Tech., Netherlands), Drew Harris (Graves Dougherty Hearon & Moody), Raj Bawa (Bawa Biotechnology Consulting LLP), Summer Johnson (Albany Medical College), Jason Robert (Arizona State Univ.), and Joachim Schummer (Tech. Univ. of Darmstadt, Germany). Organizations such as Canada‚s Commission de l'Éthique de la Science et de la Technologie, European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies, Meridian Institute, and Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars also contributed papers. | |
| The new anthology is also partly based upon work supported by the US National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0620694 and 0621021. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. | |
| The hardback volume is priced at US$119. For more information and to order, please see www.nanoethics.org. A sample chapter and more information can also be accessed at www.springer.com/philosophy/book/978-1-4020-6208-7 . | |
| About The Nanoethics Group | |
| Based at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo), The Nanoethics Group is a non-partisan research organization formed to study nanotechnology‚s impact on society and related ethical issues. As professional ethicists, we help to identify and evaluate possible harms and conflicts as well as to bring balance and common sense to the debate. Our mission is to educate and advise both organizations and the broader public on these issues as a foundation to guide policy and responsible research. For more information, please visit www.nanoethics.org. | |
| Media Contact: | |
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Patrick Lin, Ph.D. Research Director The Nanoethics Group patrick at nanoethics.org +1.805.570.5651 |
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| Source: Nanoethics Group |