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DOWN FARM THE NANOTECHNOLOGY IN THE FOOD CHAIN Nanotechnology has profound implications for food sovereignty worldwide and may be the technology that can be adapted for surveillance, social control and biowarfare. Part 1 of 2 SUMMARY anotechnology, the manipulation of matter at the scale of atoms and molecules (a Niners: [nm] is one-billionth of a metre [or 10°m]), is rapidly converging with biotech and information technology to radically change food and agricultural systems. Over the next two decades, the impacts of nano-scale convergence on farmers and food will exceed that of farm mechanisation or of the Green Revolution. Converging technolo- gies could reinvigorate the battered agrochemical and agbiotech industries, igniting a still more intense debate—this time over "atomically-modified" foods. No government has developed a regulatory regime that addresses the nano-scale or the societal impacts of the invisibly small. A handful of food and nutrition products containing invisible, unlabelled and unregulated nano-scale additives are already commercially available. Likewise, a number of pesticides formulated at the nano-scale are on the market and have been released in the environment. From soil to supper, nanotechnology will not only change how every step of the food- chain operates but it will also change who is involved. At stake is the world's $3 trillion food retail market, agricultural export markets valued at $544 billion, the livelihoods of some 2.6 billion farming people and the well-being of the rest of us who depend upon farmers for our daily bread.' Nanotech has profound implications for farmers (and fisher people and pastoralists) and for food sovereignty worldwide. Agriculture may also be the proving ground for tech- nologies that can be adapted for surveillance, social control and biowarfare. The GM (genetically modified) food debate not only failed to address environmental and health concerns, it disastrously overlooked the ownership and control issues. How society will be affected and who will benefit are critical concerns. Because nanotech involves all matter, nano-patents can have profound impacts on the entire food system and all sectors of the economy. Synthetic biology and nano-materials will dramatically transform the demand for agricultural raw materials required by proces- sors. Nano-products came to market—and more are coming—in the absence of regulation and societal debate. The merger of nanotech and biotech has unknown consequences for health, biodiversity and the environment. Governments and opinion-makers are running 8-10 years behind society's need for information, public debate and policies. November 2004 ETC Group 431 Gilmour St, Second Floor, Ottawa, ON, Canada K2P OR5 Tel: +1 613-241-2267 Fax: +1 613-241-2506 www.etcgroup.org etc@etcgroup.org INTRODUCTION—THE LAY OF THE LAND Size Matters The nano-scale moves matter out of the realm of conventional chemistry and physics into "quantum mechanics"—imparting unique characteristics to traditional materials—and unique health and safety risks. With only a reduction in size (to under 100 nm) and no change in substance, a material's properties can change dramatically. Characteristics—such as electrical conductivity, reactivity, strength, colour and espe- cially importantly, toxicity—can all change in ways that are not easily predicted. For example, a substance that is red when it is a meter wide may be green when its width is only a few nanometres; carbon in the form of graphite is soft and malleable; at the nano- scale, carbon can be stronger than steel. November 2004 JUNE — JULY 2005 NEXUS = 11 The Impact of Nano-Scale Technologies on Food and Agriculture www.nexusmagazine.com