Not Again! Public Perception, Regulation, and Nanotechnology

Abstract

Forthcoming in Regulation and Governance (2009). Although it is often argued that government oversight is needed to assure public opinion does not mistakenly view nanotechnology as dangerous or to restore public trust in government agencies, a question that we ask in this article, and one that implicates many of the themes raised in the other papers in this symposium, is whether governments can truly play this role. In short, as the world lurches toward regulation of NT we should ask: Why the rush? Can anticipatory regulation, perceived as the government doing something, fulfill the competing hopes to "restore trust," "pave-the-way," "increase awareness," or "satisfy democratic notions of accountability"? Or, is regulation more likely to increase existing divisions about nanotechnology's future?

Keywords: Nanotechnology, Regulation, Technology, Genetics, Genetically modified, Governance, Risk, Cognitive, Psychology, Culture, Public Engagement