Brooklin, Canada — Futuristic nanotechnologies that purify drinking water, produce energy and grow food can benefit poor countries and help to meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), according to a new report.

Most of the current research into nanotechnology is being done in the North, but there are important potential applications to fulfill the energy, health and food needs of the South, says Peter Singer, director of the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics (JCB) and co-author of the report.

Nanotechnology refers to the manipulation of matter at the level of atoms and molecules. It involves materials and processes at size scales of less than 100 nanometres. A human hair is about 80,000 nanometres wide. At the nano-scale, materials have novel properties, opening up an enormous range of applications.

"Nanotechnology isn't just for making stain-resistant pants and better sunscreen," Singer told IPS.

But critics argue that nanotech poses unknown risks and that meeting the MDGs -- which include reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS and cutting poverty and hunger in half by 2015 -- has more to do with social justice than research into high technology.

Fears of a growing "nano-divide" between rich and poor countries prompted the JCB to convene a panel of 63 experts from around the world to examine how nanotech could solve problems in developed countries in the next 10 years.

"This is an ethical and scientific issue," says Singer. "Billions are being invested in nanotechnology; some of this should be devoted to helping developing countries."

Some of the potential applications of nanotech include the semi-fantastic -- fleets of cancer-fighting "nano robots" and supercomputers that fit on the head of a pin. But more prosaically, the more than 100 products utilising nanotech already on the market in the North are things like better sunscreens and cosmetics, and yes, stain-proof pants.

The experts composed a top-ten list of nanotech applications with energy storage, production and conversion, including more efficient solar cells, hydrogen fuel cells and new hydrogen storage, at the top.

"Energy is crucial to all other technologies," said study leader Fabio Salamanca-Buentello, also with the JCB.

Improvements in solar technologies using nanotech are particularly important in the sun-rich South, Salamanca-Buentello said in an interview.

Second most important was the use of nanotech in farming. Cheap, unseen devices could be made to release fertilisers or insecticides at a strictly controlled rate. Others could be sprayed over a plant and act as sensors, relaying information about the plant's health, he explained.

The third application is in water treatment, where nano-membranes and clays could purify or desalinate water more efficiently than conventional filters and are a fraction of the size.

"In countries where arsenic contamination of groundwater is a problem, these filters could eliminate the arsenic at very low cost," Salamanca-Buentello said.

Fourth on the list are cheaper methods for diagnosing disease utilising so-called lab-on-a-chip technology. Currently in development in the U.S., the technique involves placing a drop of blood on a chip of plastic about the size of a coin covered in tiny nano-sensors.

Within minutes, the sensors could provide data typical of normal blood testing, as well as look for indicators of infectious diseases, hormonal imbalances, and even cancer.

"We want to encourage developing countries to develop their own chips for similar purposes," the scientist added.

Several developing countries have already climbed aboard the nanotech train.

India's Department of Science and Technology will invest 20 million dollars over the next four years. China ranks third in the world behind the United States and Japan in the number of nanotech patent applications.

Researchers at China's Tsinghua University have begun clinical tests for a bone scaffold based on nanotechnology that gradually disintegrates as the patient's damaged skeletal tissue heals. This application of nanotechnology is especially relevant for developing countries, where the number of skeletal injuries resulting from road traffic accidents is high.

In Brazil, the projected budget for nanoscience during the next five years (2004-2007) is about 25 million dollars, and three institutes, four networks, and approximately 300 scientists are working in nanotechnology. Brazilian researchers are investigating the use of modified magnetic nanoparticles to remove oil from oil spills; both the nanoparticles and the oil could potentially be recycled.

And Mexico has world-class researchers in carbon nanotubes. Other developing countries pursuing nanotechnology include Thailand, the Philippines, Chile and Argentina.

However, much more research is needed, and the panel suggests an initiative called "Addressing Global Challenges Using Nanotechnology". Modeled on the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative launched last year by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a nanotech grand challenge would foster scientific investments in the South to develop these new technologies.

Much of the research should be done in the South, with the North providing technological and financial support, said Singer. "Canada, for example, has committed 5 percent of its national research and development budget to developing technology for the South."

However, there was no mention of the health and environmental risks of the new technology in the report published this week in PloS Medicine.

There is already some evidence that certain nano materials could be hazardous, acknowledged Salamanca-Buentello.

"Research into the risks and developing the new technology need to proceed hand in hand," he noted.

Others are more pessimistic. Pat Mooney of Canada's ETC Group, an environmental NGO, believes it will take years of studies to assess the risks of nano-products -- and by then it will be too late because they will already be on the market.

In 2002, the ETC Group began a campaign to ban commercial marketing of new nanotechnology products until more research is done on the risks.

There are no health or safety regulations specific to nanotech anywhere in the world, said Mooney: "Government regulators are running eight to 10 years behind on this."

In fact, Mooney said regulators in most countries are "shocked" to learn that so many nanotech products are already out on the market.

"It's the same pattern as genetic engineering. Develop the products first and then figure out how to regulate them afterwards," he said.

While nano may have some potential for alleviating problems in the South, Mooney said ethicists like Singer would be better off lobbying their governments in the North to fulfill long overdue promises of delivering 0.7 percent of their GDP in foreign aid.

"It may be a worthy goal to develop a new malaria vaccine, but does it make sense when there isn't enough money to buy all the needed bed nets that could prevent the disease?" he asked.

Instead of dealing with thorny issues of social justice, trade imbalances and debt relief, Mooney argued, Canada and other countries in the North like to focus on hi-tech toys.