President's Science Advisers Approve Report Calling for Collaboration on NanotechnologySource: The Bureau of National Affairs' Daily Environment Report
The United States President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) last week approved a report that will "... encourage federal agencies to increase their collaboration on environmental, health, and safety questions arising from various applications of nanotechnologies." The Council, which meets only once every two years, reviews the federal National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI). The Council's first report evaluating the multi-agency initiative was criticized by some parties for not paying sufficient attention to environmental, health and safety concerns. The spokesman for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the office that manages PCAST, said the new report will include a substantial chapter on environmental, health and safety issues. Ed Penhoet, a director of Alta Partners and the co-chair of the council subcommittee developing the report, added that the report will recommend that the federal government develop a "cross-agency strategy plan that links environmental, health, and safety research with knowledge gaps and decision-makers' needs." Penhoet also said that the report will recommend that the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office receive more funding and a broader mandate to oversee the nanotechnology initiative. The article can be viewed online at the link below. |