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Nanotechnology — the science of the extremely small — holds enormous potential for healthcare, from delivering drugs more effectively, diagnosing diseases more rapidly and sensitively, and delivering vaccines via aerosols and patches. Rich countries are investing heavily in nanotechnology for health. The first generation of cancer drugs delivered via nanoparticles, for example, has already been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
However, it is still early days for nanotechnology in healthcare and whether it will be of value to resource-poor countries is still hotly debated. Critics argue that when millions of people in countries like India or those in Sub-Saharan Africa are dying because of a lack of access to even basic healthcare, investing in cutting-edge technologies is a ludicrous waste of money. And experts are concerned that the toxicity of nanoparticles to human health and the environment has not been studied extensively enough. For instance, a 2004 report by the UK Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering recommended that nanoparticles and nanotubes — cylindrical carbon molecules that are better conductors than normal carbon molecules — be treated as hazardous waste.
Many emerging economies such as Brazil, China, India, Iran, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore and South Africa have ambitious research and development (R&D) plans for nanotechnology. Their governments need to balance short-term health needs with long-term technological investment. Yet while poor countries have an ongoing responsibility to strengthen healthcare systems and provide wider access to medicine, nanotechnology could, in the long run, save lives by making diagnosis and treatment far more effective.
New advances Nanotechnology has the potential to completely revolutionise all the three key aspects of healthcare sector-Diagnosis, prevention and Treatment. Nanotechnology will help medical professionals in today's most excruciating medical issues, such as repairing of damaged organs, diagnosis and treatment of cancer cells, removal of obstruction in brain and it can help in better drug delivery system.
Nanotechnology can be used to develo
p ''signature protein'' to treat cancer. Nano filters are able to remove the smallest of known viruses. Nanotechnologically made, antimicrobial coating is another promising area for preventing diseases. Nanotechnology can help design certain drugs that very difficult to manufacture because of structural constraints by using a controlled manufacturing system at the atomic and molecular level.
Quantum dots: nanosized semiconductors that can be used as biosensors to find disease and which can be made to fluoresce. Sometimes known as nanocrystals, quantum dots have significant advantages over traditional organic dyes as their luminescence can be tuned to a wide range of frequencies, and they degrade much more slowly in the body. Fluorescent quantum dots can be tagged to antibodies that target cancerous cells or cells infected with tuberculosis (TB) or HIV
Nanocapsules: these are pods that encapsulate drugs, which ensures the drugs are released more slowly and steadily in the body
Buckyballs: spherical nanoparticles can carry more than o
ne drug at a time. They are useful in the treatment of diseases such as cancer and other diseases where monotherapy can lead to drug resistance
What is technically possible and what is ethically appropriate is a matter of heated debate. In developing nations, nanomedicine evokes similar ethical issues to genetically modified foods. The invisible nature of nanotechnology makes it easier to 'hide' nanotech products, and to invade privacy or carry out procedures that require consent, without the patient's knowledge. This may be particularly pertinent with regard to clinical trials of nanodrugs carried out in developing countries.
Developing country governments will need to tread carefully. The capacity to ensure ethical clinical trials is generally poor in the developed world and introducing health products based on nanotechnology may require an expertise that is lacking. As with other health technologies, there is nothing intrinsically good or bad about nanotechnology. It will depend on how it is used. Developing nations should not wait until the technology is on their doorstep before figuring out its ethical and societal implications.
By: Dr. Vivek Rana ProfileResourcesReport error
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