Renegotiating the National Nanotechnology Initiative

Nanotechnology promises to provide new technological solutions for myriad problems in medicine, defense, and public health. With this promise, however, comes a reservation about the safety of the widespread use of nanotechnology. In the United States, the National Nanotechnology Initiative serves as the hub for federal funding and regulation of nanotechnology. After five years of operation, the Senate reviewed progress of the NNI and called it a “model” program for its ability to unite 25 federal agencies. The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology offered similar praises in its April 2008 Second Assessment and Recommendations of the National Nanotechnology Advisory Panel. The panel also advised, among other things:

Expansion of communication and outreach efforts, particularly with respect to real and perceived benefits and risks associated with nanotechnology;

Developing and implementing standards critical for nanomaterial identification, characterization, and risk assessment; and

Coordinating strategically-guided nanotechnology environmental, health, and safety research across agencies, sectors, and countries and including a balanced assessment of risks and benefits in the context of specific, real-world applications.

H.R. 5940, the National Nanotechnology Initiative Amendments Act of 2008, is a step in the right direction to address these issues. The act authorizes the designation of an associate director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy as “the Coordinator for Societal Dimensions of Nanotechnology,” responsible for coordinating, planning, and prioritizing budgets of activities all required by section 2 (b) (10) of the 21st Century National Nanotechnology Research and Development Act of 2003. These activities include: developing an understanding of control and manipulation of particles at the nano scale, providing research grants, establishing a network of advanced technology user facilities and centers, and establishing interdisciplinary nanotechnology research centers.

Where this 2003 act offers a huge set of requirements for ensuring that ethical, societal, and health issues in nanotechnology are addressed, H.R. 5940 articulates a mechanism, the position of the Coordinator for Societal Dimensions of Nanotechnology, by which to fulfill these requirements. The other provisions of H.R. 5940 also provide programs to educate the public about nanotechnology and provide means for assessing the success of the NNI . H.R. 5940 was passed to the Senate and is currently in the hands of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. The Senate also received the Nanotechnology in the Schools Act, which would require the director of the National Science Foundation to establish a nanotechnology in the schools program that would fund secondary education in nanotechnology, and passed it to the Committee on Health, Labor, Education, and Pensions.

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