2008 Budget Should Cover Research On Nanotech Risk – Congressmen

The Bush Administration should place a high priority on developing and funding a risk-focused nanotechnology research plan in the fiscal 2008 budget, according to Reps. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.) and Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.).

In a joint statement issued Nov. 16, the congressmen endorse a 15-year, five-point plan for nanotechnology research and development as laid out in a paper by Andrew Maynard of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C., along with 13 other top international scientists, published the same day in the journal Nature.

"This paper should eliminate any remaining excuses for inaction in this vitally important area," the congressmen say.

Boehlert and Gordon, House Science Committee chair and ranking Democrat, cite a September committee meeting attended by reps from FDA, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy in which concerns were raised over the status of nanotech research.

"There is absolutely no reason that those same agencies and the White House should not now quickly get together a plan and a budget to implement the recommendations in the Nature paper as part of the fiscal 2008 budget," Boehlert and Gordon assert.

In the paper, "Safe Handling of Nanotechnology," Maynard et al. extend "five grand challenges" to the scientific community, with the goal of "stimulat[ing] research that is imaginative, innovative and above all relevant to the safety of nanotechnology."

The challenges include the development of instruments to assess environmental exposure to nanomaterials, methods to evaluate the toxicity of nanomaterials, models for predicting the potential impact of nanomaterials, ways of tracking the consequence of nanomaterials across their life cycle, and strategic programs that enable risk-focused research.

Maynard et al. propose that the challenges be met within the next decade and a half, lest the grand potential of nanotechnology struggle to be realized.

"The specter of possible harm - whether real of imagined - is threatening to slow the development of nanotechnology unless sound, independent and authoritative information is developed on what the risks are, and how to avoid them," the authors say.

In fact, nanotechnology has already found its way to consumers - if discreetly - in sunscreens and cosmetics in particular. As of October, the Wilson Center's Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies had identified 58 commercialized cosmetic products with claims to nanotechnology.

Meanwhile, emerging studies suggest that nano-ingredients can pose risks for the same reason they hold significant promise - their size.

At dimensions of roughly 1 to 100 nanometers (a sheet of paper is about 100,000 nanometers thick), matter exhibits unique behavior, enabling novel applications but also opening the door to novel risks, the National Nanotechnology Initiative suggests.

A June Environmental Science & Technology report suggested that the titanium dioxide nanoparticles contained in some sunscreens may have ill effects on brain cells (¹ , p. 10).

Maynard et al. acknowledge that "fears over the possible dangers of some nanotechnologies may be exaggerated, but they are not necessarily unfounded."

The authors stress that strategic and targeted risk research in the nanotech field is essential to protect consumers and those working with nanomaterials from potential illnesses resulting from exposure.

Without such research, "public confidence in nanotechnologies could be reduced through real or perceived dangers, and fears of litigation may make nanotechnologies less attractive to investors and the insurance industry," they say.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) seconded that sentiment in a Nov. 15 press release of his own, noting that some companies are shying away from the nanotech space, and some investors growing reluctant to back it. "At least one insurer" has refused coverage for nanotech companies, he claims.

"Tackle the environmental, health and safety issues properly and America reaps nanotechnology's economic and social benefits for years to come. Mishandle or ignore these questions and public confidence in nanotechnology may disappear," Wyden concludes.

FDA's nanotech task force, formed in August, met in October and plans to submit a report within the next eight months to Acting Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach on the state of nanotechnology in the U.S. (² (Also see "Nanotechnology Benefits/Risks Presented To FDA Nanotech Task Force" - HBW Insight, 16 Oct, 2006.), p. 3).

- Jessica Lake ([email protected])