Down on the farm: the impact of nano-scale technologies on food and agriculture

This report examines applications of nanotechnology to food and agriculture, which have the potential to revolutionise and further consolidate power over the global food supply. The report is the first in a series of ETC reports on the potential impacts of nanotechnologies on different economic and social sectors.The report argues that by allowing the production of nanotech products in the absence of public debate and regulatory oversight, governments, agribusiness and scientific institutions have already jeopardised the potential benefits of nano-scale technologies. The report recommends that society engage in a wide debate about nanotechnology and its multiple economic, health and environmental implications.Other recommendations include:following the Precautionary Principle, all food, feed and beverage products that incorporate manufactured nanoparticles should be removed from the shelves and new ones prohibited from commercialisation until laboratory protocols and regulatory regimes are in placenano-scale formulations of agricultural input products should be prohibited until a regulatory regime specifically designed to examine these products finds them safegovernments must also move immediately to establish a moratorium on lab experimentation with "synthetic biology" materials until society can engage in a thorough analysis of the health, environmental and socio-economic implicationsthe broader social and ethical issues must also be addressedat the intergovernmental level, the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) standing committees and commissions should monitor and debate the new technologies, with active input and feedback from peasant and small farmers’ organisationsthe UN/FAO Committee on World Food Security should be discussing the implications for agro-terrorism as well as food sovereigntythe UN Convention on Biological Diversity should review nanobiotech’s potential impact, especially on biosafetyother UN agencies should join with FAO to examine the impact of nanotech on the ownership and control of the world’s food supply, commodities and labourthe international community should establish a body dedicated to tracking, evaluating and monitoring new technologies and their products through an International Convention for the Evaluation of New Technologies (ICENT).