Does existing law fail to address nanotechnoscience?

The realm of nanotechnoscience (NTS) is vast and dense. A niche industry of nanocritics has arisen to address ethical principles that should govern the field, causal factors in that development, and the types of nanotechnological futures considered desirable. Although their visions of a nanotechnologized world vary considerably, commentators of many stripes share a concern about what they perceive as the same worrisome issue: a lack of appropriate ethical and legal principles and processes to guide nanotechnological R&D and commercialization.