WASHINGTON - House Science
Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) and Ranking
Democrat Bart Gordon (D-TN) today issued the following
joint statement in response to a paper that is being published
the journal Nature tomorrow laying out a research
agenda to understand the environmental, health, and safety
implications of nanotechnology. (The paper, “Safe
Handling of Nanotechnology,” is by Dr. Andrew Maynard, Chief
Science Advisor for the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies
at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and
thirteen co-authors from business, research and academic
organizations.)
“This paper should be a landmark in
the history of nanotechnology research. It lays out a
clear, reasonable, prioritized, consensus-based set of
priorities for examining the potential environmental and
health consequences of nanotechnology over the next decade and
a half. This paper should eliminate any remaining
excuses for inaction in this vitally important
area.
“At our most recent Science
Committee hearing on this subject in September, both of us
made clear that we felt the Administration was moving too
slowly with preparing and funding a research agenda in this
area when a sense of urgency was needed. And indeed
several of the agency witnesses acknowledged that they too
were dissatisfied with the status of this research.
There is absolutely no reason that those same agencies and the
White House should not now quickly put together a plan and a
budget to implement the recommendations in the Nature
paper as part of the fiscal 2008 budget.
“There is too much at stake to
continue to dally. Nanotechnology is an area of research
that could add billions of dollars to our economy, but that
won’t happen if it is shrouded in uncertainty about its
consequences. And our citizens, especially individuals
who will be working with nanotechnology, need to be protected
from any potential harm that could come from materials far
smaller than what they have generally been exposed to in the
past. We are at a rare moment when industry and
environmental leaders both see the tremendous need and
tremendous benefit from moving forward with this
research. The government has an obligation to help fund
and conduct that research. We need to move now when the
issues are most pressing and the politics are most conducive
to addressing them.”
The Science Committee wrote the law
establishing the National Nanotechnology Initiative and has
held several hearings on the environmental and safety risks of
nanotechnology, most recently on Sept. 21.
