By
Dr. Joseph Mercola
with Rachael Droege weblink.. How
Nanotechnology Will Change Health Care As We Know It 9/6/03
Nanotechnology, which has been called "the manufacturing technology
of the 21st century," refers to the study and design of systems at the
scale of the atom, or the nanoscale. At the most basic level, the
manufacturing is actually the rearranging of individual molecules and atoms
into complex "molecular machines."
As you likely know, most disease begins at the cellular and molecular
levels. However, the tools of modern medicine are too large and cumbersome to
reach disease at this stage. With nanotechnology, we will be able to have
computer-controlled machines that are much smaller than a human cell that can
address disease at the cellular and molecular levels.
No one is sure how long these innovations will take--it could be years or
decades--but at some point nanotechnology will likely allow us to remove
obstructions in the circulatory system, kill cancer cells, repair organs,
create artificial mitochondrion and view tissue samples with extraordinary
detail.
Within a couple of years, scientists hope to use nanotechnology to detect
the location of viruses in the body. The process would involve injecting
magnetic nanoparticles into the bloodstream and would potentially allow more
precise virus treatments to be developed.
Although it is largely still in the experimental stages, nanotechnology is
growing fast. The federal government has allotted $847 million in 2004 for
the National Nanotechnology Initiative, which represents a 9.5 percent increase
from 2003.
However, some environmental groups say more caution is warranted for the
new technology. For instance, little is known about how nanomaterials
interact with living organisms, and nanomaterials are so small that they can
easily be inhaled or absorbed through the skin. There are also some long-term
ethical concerns over the potential development of "intelligent"
nanobots.
Nanotechnology reaches far beyond medical applications and could
potentially touch just about every aspect of today’s society. Scientists are
currently exploring how to use nanotechnology to create wet-suit-like gear
for soldiers that would be bulletproof, keep out chemical weapons and even
increase jumping ability, and there are already stain-resistant pants on the
market that were created using nanotechnology. The debate is just beginning
to surface of whether it is best to move ahead and focus on the good that
could come out of nanotech inventions, or slow down for fear of the
life-changing and unforeseeable events that are sure to surface as this
technology progresses.
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