The ethical and legal implications of nanotechnologies: a preliminary survey to picture the perceptions of law students and medical students.

Purposes. The aim of this preliminary survey was to picture the\r\ncurrent knowledge and opinions of law students and medical students\r\nabout nanotechnologies.\r\nMarterials and Methods. Data were collected in June 2012 by\r\ninterviews with 60 students of the University of Camerino (Macerata,\r\nItaly) defined as “jurist population” and 159 medical students of the\r\nUniversità Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Rome, Italy) defined as “medical\r\npopulation”.\r\nResults. The Authors found that both law and medical students\r\nhave some knowledge on what nanotechnologies are; with regards to\r\nthe ethical issues and risks perception, both categories indicated that\r\nnanotechnologies generate bioethical issues. Nevertheless, a high percentage\r\nof respondents believed that neither existing technologies nor\r\nnanotechnologies pose risks for human health. Opinions on regulation\r\nof nanotechnologies are instead different.\r\nConclusions. These preliminary findings underlined the ambiguity\r\nsurrounding nanotechnologies both concerning the bioethical dimension\r\nand risks perception and their regulation. These early data therefore\r\nshowed a need of additional reflection on these technologies that should\r\nbe investigated more in detail; moving from students, future scientists\r\nand regulators, these data could contribute to clarify the debate on them.