On the Assembly of Things

A recent article in the New York Times caught my eye. (“Openers: Suits; Never Too Soon to Sweat” by Barnaby J. Feder, Feb 4^th 2007)  

Describing a competition run by ETC group (www.etcgroup.org) to design a warning label for products containing nanotechnology, the author seemed to characterize the Group’s anxiety as British. 

He writes: “William R. Inge, the British vicar known as the Gloomy Dean, once said that ‘anxiety is interest paid on trouble before it is due.’  A half-century after his death, Britain still leads the way in anticipating bad news.”  

The comment calls to mind a view in Ireland in 1996 just after the British government described the link between BSE’s microscopic prion and the human variant, vCJD.  The BSE crisis as it was called meant that Irish beef markets collapsed along with  Britain’s.  Consumers all over Europe and elsewhere stopped eating beef.  Animals and farm livelihoods in Britain in particular were at the epicenter of devastating social and economic effects that other beef markets anxiously labelled a ‘British’ problem.  But by the same token the ‘British’ became valuable in another way: if there was a risk - especially anything to do with small particles and food – that would be where the early signs would show up. 

By the way, the winner of ETC Group’s recent competition said he “had never heard of nanotechnology before last October, when his graphic design instructor called attention to ETC’s contest.

‘There may be danger,’ he said, ‘but it’s kind of early to know.’”

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