Written by Lesley Tobin, Institute of Nanotechnology (UK)
One of the main aims of the Nanochannels project is to find out about people’s opinions and expectations of nanotechnology and enable individuals to learn about and discuss its risks and benefits. So far the project has conducted online surveys in seven languages, which met with a huge response.
Now, as part of the Nanochannels project, live focus groups are being held with members of the public across Europe including sportspeople, retailers, senior citizens and parents of young children. Not only are these discussions aimed at finding out people’s views on nano products, but also they have examined other issues, such as the effectiveness of different forms of media – including print, social networking sites, and radio – in communicating scientific information to the public and the type of information that people would like. The individuals taking part in these focus groups have also voiced their opinions on issues of trust in government, scientists and product brands. What is important is that these focus groups are not a purely academic exercise: each group discussion has been transcribed and will be sent to the European Commission to help them formulate new policies about nanotechnology and public information.
During one of the focus groups which was held in the UK, a number of viewpoints and issues were raised by the various participants and have been transcribed below so that you have the opportunity to comment yourself and to have your voice heard by stating your views at the end:
“When you talk about addressing and reducing resistance to nano, are you assuming that there is some? Are you not in danger of creating that resistance by raising that awareness in the first place? “
“I was reading about the socks – is it silver particles or something? And they were saying there was an environmental problem and they leech – wash out.”
“A lot of people ask about environment. You know, is this product kind to the environment? What do you do when you dispose of it?”
“There is an argument about that if everything is antibacterial that we’re actually creating a super resistant bug. We all need to be exposed to bacteria and if we’re going to have all these bedcovers and sheets and fridges and microwaves and computers that are all sterile, what happens next?”
“Is this more to do with a male-female perception. If you’ve got it on stuff that’s to do with cars and polishes then guys think ‘that looks great, my car’s going to look fantastic’ but if you have it on things that you would use for the kids, then people might be more restrictive of using it?”
“With nanotechnology we now have the ability to intervene right down to the DNA level – we’re now starting to interfere with nature.”
Q: “What kind of information do you want?”
A: “Is it safe?”
“I’m just wondering if we start to use the term loosely for marketing ‘contains nano something or other’ and that gives it a credibility that it perhaps doesn’t deserve.”
“If the clever folk market it well, you’ve got hundreds of people buying stuff that they don’t really need”
“What we haven’t touched on here is that brand trust is the whole point, so if a major high street store say it’s ok, then it’s ok. If an obscure sock dealer says it’s ok then I’m going to question him. You know, if the high street retailer has done the diligence, then I sort of trust them. It’s about brand name and you trust the brand.”
“This suncream isn’t labelled. No-one knows that it has nano in it. If you know that this has some kind of nanoparticle, how happy are you about spreading that over your child?”
“Well, they’ve obviously tested it and they’re rigorous about testing so surely it’s got to be safe”
“I think that’s where there is a role for government to produce a balanced approach but they have to depend on the scientists to give them proper information in the first place.”
“In the western world we’ve got lots of exciting things happening, yet all these things are there to give us a good happy life and if you go to developing countries they’re a little bit happier than us and yet they’ve got nothing, no nanotechnology and they get on with life so I don’t think we really need it.”
“I would really like to know more on the pros and cons. Asbestos was the greatest thing out and look what happened to that. So we really need to know all the information about it.”
“You can’t uninvent it – it’s an exciting technology but you’ve got to be careful that in this constant drive to go faster, stronger, longer, whatever, if you don’t take with you the ethical discussion there could be problems.”
Do you agree with these statements? What are your views on these issues?
NANOCHANNELS is a project funded by the European Commission. The views expressed on this site are entirely those of the Authors NANO Channels
and do not engage or commit the European Commission in any way. The Community is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therein. Nanochannels is funded under the EC contract NMP4-CA-2010- 266946.
