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Spring Issue 2008
SOT Members Participate in Two Congressional Briefings on Nanotechnology
Michael Holsapple, SOT’s Vice President-elect, provided the opening remarks for the April Congressional Briefing, “Nanotechnology 102: Understanding Congress’ Role.” Dr. Holsapple, executive director for the International Life Sciences Institute Health and Environmental Sciences Institute (HESI), noted that “by working on a scale of one or a few atoms, we now have the ability to design new materials and improve existing products.” Nanotechnology offers the potential for improved medicines and health care, safer and stronger materials, and better-performing and longer-lasting products, according to Dr. Holsapple. He also raised a number of questions about the regulator’s role in “ensuring that nanotechnology lives up to its promise without compromising health and safety.”
Nanotechnology 102 is the second briefing in a series on nanotechnology that the Society of Toxicology, the American Chemical Society, and the Society for Risk Analysis have sponsored this Congress. The briefings were designed to provide Members of Congress and the public with a comprehensive overview of this promising technology and to examine the uncertainties about the environmental, health, and safety impact on human health and the environment.
This session featured the following panelists: Linda-Jo Schierow, Environmental Policy Specialist, and Congressional Research Service; Kristen Kulinowski, Faculty Fellow, Department of Chemistry, Rice University; J. Clarence Davies, Senior Advisor, Woodrow Wilson Center Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies; James Cooper, Vice President of Petrochemicals, National Petrochemical and Refiners Association, and Charles Auer, Director, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Nanotechnology 101: Science, Technology, and Health
The first briefing, which was held in March, explored the science and the potential benefits that nanoscale materials hold for human health and the environment. Opening remarks were provided by Dr. John R. Fowle III, Treasurer-Elect of Society for Risk Analysis. Panelists included: Martin Spitzer, Senior Fellow, H. J. Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment; Paul Alivisatos, Associate Laboratory Director for Physical Sciences, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; David Rejeski, Director, Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and David Warheit, Research Fellow, DuPont Haskell Global Centers for Health and Environmental Sciences. Dr. Warheit, Interim Vice President of the SOT Nanotoxicology Specialty Section, talked about “Environment, Health and Safety Issues: What is Known About the Hazards of Nanotechnology?”
More information about the briefing and nanotechnology is available at:
American Chemical Society, Nanotechnology 101: Science, Technology and Health
American Chemical Society, Nanotechnology 102: Understanding Congress’s Role
Woodrow Wilson Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies
Other useful links are:
National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI)
NNI Strategic Plan
U.S. EPA, Draft Nanomaterial Research Strategy (NRS) January 24, 2008
To submit ideas for future Congressional Science Briefings, contact Martha Lindauer.
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