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Nano hazards are more worrying than GM food, says science writer Leigh Dayton
HOMO sapiens is a peculiar species, one that can get its knickers in a knot about the strangest things in the strangest ways. For instance, take genetically modified food ... or not.
Despite mounting evidence from scientists that it's safe to eat, opponents continue to worry about potential health risks. They argue that genetically tweaked food -- even munchables made from tweaked plants or animals -- should go nowhere near human mouths. Yet while obsessing about the lurking dangers of GM soya beans, wheat or corn chips, they're missing the real risk: the rise of monoculture, loss of genetic diversity and unseemly control of key tools of food production by big agriculture.
In contrast, there are few quibbles about new medical products made using the same tools of genetic engineering.
It seems that when it comes to biotechnology, if it makes life easier, healthier or more fun, we're in favour.
Enter nanotechnology. Unlike GM food, the technology of the teeny weeny has largely slipped under the public radar in a flurry of promised cool products: quantum computers, cosmetics, nano-robots, self-cleaning...