ABSTRACT
Today society is undergoing a nanotechnology revolution, which is transforming the ways in which materials and products are created. How is this revolution impacting society? As we design systems on a nanoscale, we develop the capability to redesign the structure of all materials—natural and synthetic—along with rethinking the new possibilities of the reconstruction of any and all materials. Such a change in our design power presents tremendous social and ethical questions. To enable our future leadership to make decisions for sustainable, ethical, economic nanotechnological development, it is imperative that we educate all nanotechnology stakeholders about the short-term and long-term benefits, limitations, risks, and unintended consequences of nanotechnology. Nanotechnology, like its predecessor technologies, will have an impact on all areas. Despite the invisible or submicroscopic nature of nanotechnology, its power and impact will be ubiquitous and must be addressed for sustainability, economic and cultural equity, and green and ethical engineering. Applying the foundations of ethics to new technological challenges brings to engineering reality the importance and relevance of the inclusion of such sustainability and ethical principles. This chapter explores the challenges of population increase and the application of nanotechnology in the food and agriculture sectors by discussing topics of advantages and characteristics of nanotechnology, nanosensors, nanomaterial-based packaging, encapsulation, social and ethical issues, risks, concerns, and unintended consequences of nanotechnology.
