Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
•
Pharmaceuticals: About half of all production will be dependent on nanotechnology, affecting
over $180 billion per year in 10 to15 years.
•
Chemical plants: Nanostructured catalysts have applications in the petroleum and chemical
processing industries, with an estimated annual impact of $100 billion in 10 to 15 years.
•
Sustainability: Nanotechnology will improve agricultural yields for an increased population,
provide more economical water filtration and desalination (such as the flowthrough capacitor with
aligned carbon nanotube electrodes), and enable renewable energy sources (such as highly
efficient solar energy conversion); it will reduce the need for scarce material resources and
diminish pollution leading to a cleaner environment. For example, in 10 to 15 years, projections
indicate that such nanotechnology-based lighting advances have the potential to reduce worldwide
consumption of energy by more than 10%, reflecting a savings of $100 billion dollars per year
and a corresponding reduction of 200 million tons of carbon emissions (as well as significantly
reduced releases of toxics like mercury, dioxins, and oxides of nitrogen and sulfur).
Emerging technologies will continue to challenge the engineering profession. Staying abreast of these
revolutions and enhancing the engineer's understanding of the risks and benefits to society, at least at
some basic level, will serve the profession well.
NOTES
AND
COMMENTARY
1
N.H. Steneck,
Introduction
to
Responsible
Conduct
of
Research
, Office of Research Integrity
(Washington, DC: Department of Health and Human Services, 2004).
2
Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President quoted by N.H. Steneck,
Introduction
to
Responsible
Conduct
of
Research
, Office of Research Integrity (Washington, DC:
Department of Health and Human Services, 2004).
3
J. Orear, 1968, Letter to the journal
Physics
Today
, pertaining to a proposed amendment to
the American Physical Union's constitution. Cited in M.W. Friedlander,
The
Conduct
of
Science
(Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1972).
4
Trials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals under Control Council Law No. 10,
vol. 2, 181 Washington, DC: US GPO, 1949.
5
World Medical Association, Declaration of Helsinki (1989).
6
21 C.F.R. §50.02 (2003).
7
US Department of Health, Education and Welfare, National Commission for the Protection of Human
Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research, 1979,
The
Belmont
Report:
Ethical
Principles
and
Guidelines
for
the
Protection
of
Human
Subjects
of
Research
, 18 April 1979. The notice states:
The Belmont Report attempts to summarize the basic ethical principles identified by the Commission
in the course of its deliberations. It is the outgrowth of an intensive four-day period of discussions that
were held in February 1976 at the Smithsonian Institution's Belmont Conference Center supplemented
by the monthly deliberations of the Commission that were held over a period of nearly four years. It is
a statement of basic ethical principles and guidelines that should assist in resolving the ethical problems
that surround the conduct of research with human subjects. By publishing the Report in the Federal
Register, and providing reprints upon request, the Secretary intends that it may be made readily available
to scientists, members of Institutional Review Boards, and Federal employees.
