Research in nanotechnology has advanced rapidly in recent years. Several researchers, however, warn that there is a paucity of research on the ethical, legal, and social implications of nanotechnology, and they caution that ethical reflections on nanotechnology lag behind this fast developing science. In this article, the authors question this conclusion, pointing out that the predicted concrete ethical issues related to the area of nanotechnology are rather similar to those related to the area of biotechnology and biology that have been (...) considered by ethicists since the 1970s. Hence, a knowledge base has already been acquired from ethical reflections on biotechnology and biology, which may be a good starting point and foundation for a discussion of ethical reflections on nanotechnology. The authors argue that a promising approach is the use of basic ethical principles as a method to analyze ethical issues of nanotechnology. (shrink)

As 'social and ethical issues' becomes a recurring phrase in the community paying attention to nanotechnology research, a crucial question becomes: what counts as a social and ethical issue? A typical list includes privacy, environmental health and safety, media hype, and other apparently unrelated issues. This article surveys those issues and suggests that concerns about fundamental concepts of ethics, such as fairness, justice, equity, and especially power, unite the various issues identified as 'social and ethical issues' in nanotechnology.