US
Nanotechnology Environmental, Health & Safety Research Strategy open
for comment
by ANDREW MAYNARD on DECEMBER
6, 2010
The US National Nanotechnology Initiative=92s latest
iteration of its Environmental, Health and Safety Research Strategy has
just been posted on-line for public comment. Between now and
January 6, anyone who is interested is encouraged to read the draft and
comment on the on-line portal - hopefully sparking a dialogue which
will strengthen the final document.
You may remember that the previous strategy was
given a bit of a hard time by the National Academies of Science - less
for its substance than for the way it was - or wasn=92t - brought
together in a research strategy. It=92ll be interesting to see how
things have evolved over the past couple of years or so.
I haven=92t
read the draft strategy yet, but I=92m hopeful that this will be a
stronger document. For one thing, it builds on input from a wide
range of non-government experts. For another, the feds have taken
the bold but extremely welcome step of initiating a public review
period. This makes a lot of sense - it provides another chance
to iron out those niggling mistakes that everyone makes while writing
documents, and it helps a broader community to be a part of the process,
rather than just passive recipients.
I=92ll be posting comments on the draft over the
next few weeks - within the constraint that I am currently also
working on the National Academies panel developing a complementary
strategy. But in the meantime, I would encourage anyone with the
slightest interest in the potential health and environmental impacts of
engineered nanomaterials to read the report, and join the
conversation.
