International Center for Technology Assessment

The International Center for Technology Assessment (ICTA) is a U.S. non-profit bi-partisan organization, based in Washington, D.C.. ICTA aims to provide the public with full assessments and analyses of technological impacts on society. ICTA explores the economic, ethical, social, environmental and political impacts that can result from the applications of technology or technological systems.

ICTA seeks to assist the public and policy makers in better understanding how technology affects society.

ICTA lobbies for stronger regulation of nanotechnology through its Nanotechnology Project NanoAction. The implications of nanotechnology run the gamut from the medical, ethical, mental, legal and environmental applications, to fields such as engineering, biology, chemistry, computing, materials science, military applications, and communications. Nanotechnology is improving current techniques along with creating new tools and capabilities.

The Bush administration in 2007 decided that no special regulations or labeling of nanoparticles were required. "The consumer is being made the guinea pig", said George Kimbrell of the International Center for Technology Assessment.

In January 2008, a coalition of over 40 civil society groups endorsed a statement of principles calling for precautionary action related to nanotechnology. The coalition called for strong, comprehensive oversight of the new technology and its products in the International Center for Technology Assessment's report Principles for the Oversight of Nanotechnologies and Nanomaterials.

Among the projects that ICTA is working upon are Patent Watch, an effort to put stricter ethical and public interest restrictions on patents.

ICTA is also concerned about some of the developments that are taking place in the area of human biotechnology. ICTA warns that "a new eugenics age has begun". In particular, this refers to highly profit-driven areas of biotechnology such as genetic engineering, genetic screening, and cloning.

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