We've been doing nanotechnology for a long time only we used to call it chemistry or physics. It's certainly the buzz word of the moment in a lot of fields.

A colleague of mine had a book called environmental nanotechnology on her desk. I borrowed it to browse one evening. It was essentially just another book on environmental chemistry but I doubt the publisher would have been as keen with such a prosaic title.

I really don't see that it throws up any profound ethical questions which we don't already face with the use of any technology. We already have dangerous regimes with technology which can do us harm, war and conflicts have always been a spur to faster technological development. To me it seems the important ethical questions are always about how a technology should be used or developed and this is a debate which has to encompass both the specialist and the layman equally.