Nanotechnologies are already interacting with the environment. Scientists and engineers are manipulating matter at the nanoscale, and these nanoscale processes and products are being used by industry in commercially available products. These products are either applied directly to the environment or end up in the environment through indirect pathways. This review examines the state of current environmental risk assessment of nanotechnologies. Nanotechnology is described generally, then both the possible benefits of nanotechnology and the risks are reviewed in a traditional way. Subsequently, a philosophical criticism of the traditional way of looking at risks is offered.

The range of social and ethical concerns that have been raised in connection with food and agricultural biotechnology is exceedingly broad. Many of these deal with risks and possible outcomes that are not unique to crops or animals developed using recombinant DNA. Food safety, animal welfare, socio-economic and environmental impacts, as well as shifts in power relations or access to technology raise concerns that might be generalized to many technologies. These aspects of the controversy over biotechnology are analyzed below as elements of general technological ethics, and key norms or values pertinent to each of these categories are specified in some detail. However, a number of special concerns unique to the use of rDNA in manipulating plant and animal genomes have been raised, and these are reviewed as well. The chapter concludes by reviewing two broad policy strategies for responding to the issues, one involving labels and consumer consent, the other applying the precautionary principle.

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