Nanotechnology promises employment, sustainability and health.
The Dutch government invests heavily in it. But how do we
achieve these promises? In preparation for a parliamentary
debate about nanotechnology on 21 April 2010, the Rathenau
Institute initiated a working visit of MPs to one of the most
promising areas of its application: healthcare. This note sets
out the promises, challenges and issues surrounding
‘nanomedicine’. Bacteria, viruses, unhealthy diet or lifestyle,
and errors in the genetic code, They all make us sick in
different ways. But they also have one thing in common: they all
operate at the molecular level. Nanotechnology manipulates and
analyses matter at this level and therefore promises
groundbreaking insights and solutions. Nanomedicine fits into a
long tradition of medical science to search for biological
mechanisms of disease at deepening physiological levels.
According to researchers and developers, this knowledge shall
lead to earlier detection, more accurate treatment of diseases a