ABSTRACT
Prince Charles’ two years’ stance against nanotechnology began in 2003 when he asked the Royal Society, the oldest scientific society in the world and the scientific advisory board to the British government, to investigate the environmental and social risks of nanotechnology [8]. The prince questioned whether the unforeseen hazards associated with materials developed using this novel scientific avenue would outweigh their potential benefits. In an article written by Prince Charles in the Independent on Sunday in 2004, he argued that more effort must be put towards assessing the environmental, social, and ethical risks of nanotechnology, given that scientists are manipulating individual atoms in structures without concern or knowledge of inherent risks associated with the new technology [9, 10]. The prince asked that government funding for analyzing nanotechnology risks be increased to levels equivalent to those for nanotechnology discoveries. Prince Charles requested that regulations be developed to monitor
nanotechnology risks, and he also asked consumers to take a cautionary approach towards using products developed by means of nanotechnology.
