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Panel Reviews Federal Nanotechnology Efforts (Red Orbit, 6/24/08) |
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June 24, 2008 |
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Federal agencies are addressing SH&E questions related
to nanotechnology in a sound manner, according to a report issued by the
National Nanotechnology Advisory Panel established under the President's
Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). The National
Nanotechnology Initiative (NM) was last reviewed in 2005.
In its report, "The National Nanotechnology Initiative:
Second Assessment and Recommendations of the National Nanotechnology Advisory
Panel," the PCAST panel states, "The NNI continues to be a highly
successful model for an interagency program; it is well organized and well
managed ... [and its] approach for addressing [SH&E] research under the NNI
is sound."
The panel recommends that the federal government help
support the development of a battery of tests or "minimum data sets"
of physical and chemical properties of nanomaterials that researchers would be
expected to conduct, and calls for wide distribution of nonproprietary
information about the properties of nanomaterials. In addition, the panel takes
the stance that calls to establish a separate agency or office devoted to
nanotechnology SH&E research are misguided and may actually reduce research
on beneficial applications and on risk.
Read the full article here.
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Last Updated ( July 01, 2008 )
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