Nanotechnology works with microscopes and molecules but wrestles with colossal questions.
The technology is invisible to the unaided eye. A nanometre (nm) is one billionth of a metre, and the structures that nanotechnology builds are usually less than 100 nm in size, one-thousandth the width of one strand of human hair.
It is only in the last few decades that scientists, with the use of new, powerful microscopes, have been able to manipulate tiny structures like atoms and molecules into structures with new uses.
Already nanoparticles are used to create paint that stops mildew, coatings that add insulation and processed food that has enhanced nutrition and flavour. They are found in sunscreen lotions, stain resistant clothing and long-wearing tires.
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Agriculture, like all industries, will be affected.
“The broad statement is that a lot of the nanotechnology activities will lead to new types of materials and new types of devices which could impact (agriculture),” said Nils Petersen, principal investigator at the National Institute for Nanotechnology in Edmonton.
Pesticides and herbicides, veterinary medicine and precision agriculture may all see benefits from the incorporation of nanotechnology.
The laws of physics work differently at the nano scale, which can result in everyday materials taking on novel characteristics. Hard can become soft, solid can turn transparent and conductors can transform into insulators. Gold, for example, melts at a lower temperature at the nano scale.
Petersen said nanotechnology could be used to encapsulate chemical particles and, using the special properties inherent in nanomaterials, make it so they would release only under certain conditions.
“If it was important that a fertilizer only be released at temperatures above (5 C), maybe you can design something that would be put on below that temperature but wouldn’t do anything until it gets to (5 C),” he said.
In some instances, the mere fact that these materials are so small is enough to make it appealing to downsize to nano.
Pharmaceuticals developed at the nano scale would be more mobile and be able to bypass the immune system and other barricades, such as the stomach wall or the blood-brain barrier.
“If the nanoparticles allow for more rapid uptake, then you might have a greater exposure, and therefore the dose is higher … and you get a bigger response,” Petersen said.
“That can work in both good and bad ways, if you can get something to be delivered more effectively, where you want it, then you have a (bigger) effect, whether it’s a positive drug or it’s toxic.”
As a powerful emerging technology, nanotechnology poses unique safety issues.
“There are a host of safety questions, and a host of risks, both to human and environmental safety, that just aren’t even properly understood, let alone controlled,” said Jim Thomas, a program manager with the ETC Group.
A research and advocacy organization from Ottawa with interests in the environment and human rights, the ETC Group argues that there should be a moratorium on the release of products containing human engineered nanoparticles until scientists better understand their full impact on the environment and those who live in it.
The Soil Association, which calls itself Great Britain’s leading organic advocate and certification group, has banned man-made nanomaterials in all of its certified organic food and health products, citing the lack of knowledge about how such technology affects living organisms.
The environmental group Friends of the Earth from Washington, D.C., reports nanotechnology is used in more than 100 food products, food packaging and other materials now on the shelf without warning or special government testing.
“Nanotech food was put on our plates without FDA (Food and Drug Administration) testing for consumer safety,” Ian Illuminato, the group’s health and environment campaigner, said in a news release.
“Consumers have a right to know if they are taste-testing a dangerous new technology.”
Hongda Chen, national program leader for bioprocessing and nanotechnology with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, contends that just because one or two nanoparticles may be dangerous does not mean all of them are. Indeed, humans constantly encounter natural nano size particles.
“We, as humans, eat a lot of nanoparticles everyday. Within the food, a lot of biological materials like proteins, like DNA, they are nano in size, we’ve been eating this (forever), so you cannot say nanoparticles are all bad.”
Chen said the key to this issue is in understanding which nanoparticles have negative properties and keeping them out of food products.
“As food and agricultural scientists, we’re very sensitive about the safety of our products, and if the things could potentially pose any problem, we would not intentionally introduce them into the food chain.”
In 2002, Chen co-chaired a workshop with the objective of developing a science roadmap for the use of nanotechnology in agriculture. The resulting document, released in 2003, describes, among other things, the concept of a farming system consisting of a variety of nano sensors, tracking devices and delivery systems to create “smart” fields and herds.
Chen said nano-based devices implanted into livestock could be particularly useful.
“One of the things I know now, U.S. animal production is facing … low reproduction rates. This is not only the U.S. but also developing countries, and other countries are very concerned about that,” Chen said.
“If we are monitoring the hormone cycle, and use that information to facilitate the animal reproduction, that might be a good thing … technologically speaking.”
Although smart fields and herds may sound like the perfect operation, organizations such as the ETC Group are concerned that companies that sell these systems could use them to collect information on their customers.
“One of the advantages a farmer has at the moment is they have intimate knowledge of their own lands, crops and production conditions,” Thomas said.
“In a way, it’s removing the knowledge of the land from the farmer and handing it over in digital form.”
There is overlapping concern about how a nanotech revolution would change the agricultural economy. Thomas said the biotech revolution paved the way for the rise of powerful chemical companies that played a big role in agricultural policy, and the pattern could be repeated in nanotechnology.
Not necessarily, Petersen said.
“In the case of the biotech revolution, I think we know that there were certain companies that, shall we say, took advantage of their position to dominate certain kinds of activities,” he said.
“I don’t know whether there’s something really unique in the nanotechnology era that would allow the same kind of impact.”
Nanotech poses its own array of questions, he added, but the field lacks the type of revolutionary advancements that were part of biotechnology.
Ultimately, Petersen said, nanotechnology’s affect on agriculture, and the world generally, will be gradual. In the near future, he expects to see small improvements to existing products rather than sweeping change.
In the long term, however, nanotechnology might have the same revolutionary effect on agriculture that biotech did before it, he said.
“I think there’s going to be impact, and I think it will be as profound as the biotechnology impact … but it will also be in concert sometimes with the biotechnology impact.”
Nanotechnology at work
- The food packaging industry employs nanotechnology to give products longer shelf life. Packaging will be developed to detect chemicals and food borne pathogens and to incorporate antimicrobial and antifungal surface coatings. Sensors will alert consumers to spoiled food. Miller Brewing is already using nanocrystals in plastic to keep beer fresh for six months.
- In 2006, scientists from Monterrey Tech in Mexico and Tamil Nadu Agricultural University in India began a joint project to create a nano-herbicide that kills the seed coating of weeds, preventing them from germinating.
- BASF has developed a nano-coating called Mincor that reduces the adhesion of water and dirt particles. Rain washes away dirt.
- An Israeli company, Shemmen Industries, is using nanotechnology to add photosterols to canola oil to produce a product advertised to lower blood cholesterol.
- Researchers at the U.S. Oak Ridge National Laboratory are combining nanotechnology and genetic modification. Carbon nanofibres are used to insert DNA into cells to allow it to express new traits, but the trait doesn’t get transferred when the cell divides. The researchers call it non-inheritable genetic modification. This should address worries about GM plants transferring their traits to wild relatives.
- Nanotechnology is used to create stain–free, wrinkle resistant fabrics sold by companies such as Dockers, L.L. Bean and Eddie Bauer.
– Source: Staff research
