Let the scientists explain the science and the public speak for itself…

…is the rallying cry at the end of an opinion piece in today’s Times by Tracey Brown. The article decries both the defensiveness of scientists about nanotechnology and the tendency to treat non-governmental organisations like Greenpeace as proxies for public opinion. I think both of these are important points to make, though I don’t agree with the implicit conclusion that the public debate that is developing about nanotechnology is premature.

Who does Tracey Brown represent? Another NGO, of course – a pro-science pressure group called Sense about Science.