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A Portrait of Nanomedicine and its Bioethical Implications
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2021
Extract
While the definitions employed by different governmental agencies and scientific societies differ somewhat, the term “nanotechnology” is generally understood to refer to the manufacturing, characterization, and use of man-made devices with dimensions on the order of 1-100 nanometers (1 nanometer [nm] = 1 billionth of a meter). Devices that comprise a fundamental functional element that is nanotechnological are also frequently comprised within nanotechnology, as are manufactured objects with dimensions less than one micrometer. The differences in definition lead to occasional paradoxes, such as the fact that the most widely used nanodrug (albumin nanoparticles of dimensions up to 300 nm, comprising the anticancer drug paclitaxel) is labeled a “nanopharmaceutical” by governments of European countries, Canada, and Australia, but it is not a nanotechnology for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It is also common in scientific domains to restrict the term “nanotechnology” to objects that possess special, “emerging” properties that only arise because of their nanoscale dimension.
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- Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2012
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