National Nanotechnology Initiative: Charting the Course for Reauthorization
April 24, 2008
253
SR
Nanotechnology has the potential to be the next great technological revolution. Currently, the federal investment, through the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), is nearly $1.5 billion. This hearing will examine the five year period since the NNI was initially authorized in 2003 and explore issues the Committee should consider for the next reauthorization.
The webcast will be audio only.
Webcast
Minority Statement
-
Ted Stevens
SenatorMinority Statement
Ted Stevens
Nanotechnology is a fascinating and revolutionary in many ways, and it has the potential to change and improve our lives.I think that we all think about it from the golf course to the emergency room, nanoscience is developing novel materials, devices, and systems that are opening up new avenues of science. Engineering controlling matter at sizes one one-thousandth the diameter of a human hair creates really an interest in the public and everyone concerned with it. I think that is such an amazing new area that is just plain fascinating to meAs nanotechnology evolves, safety becomes a topic of great interest. I think there appears to be very little evidence, so far, that nanotechnology is creating any serious dangers to our nation or is unsafe. On the contrary, I’m told medicine has made use of nanoparticles for at least 25 years without incident. Therapeutic medicines and magnetic resonance imaging tests already employ nanotechnology and have not revealed any demonstrably negative impacts on human health.In the absence of that I hope that Congress and the federal government will not as administrators or policy makers overestimate our role and we will conduct ourselves in a way to support the research and avoid imposing additional regulatory regimes on this developing field of science unless we are convinced additional regulation is warranted.
Witness Panel 1
-
The Honorable Richard M. Russell
Associate Director and Deputy Director for TechnologyExecutive Office of the PresidentRussell Testimony (505.50 KB) -
Mr. Robert A. Robinson
Managing Director, Natural Resources and Environment TeamU.S. Government Accountability OfficeRobinson Testimony (384.61 KB)
Witness Panel 2
-
Mr. Matthew M. Nordan
PresidentLux Research IncorporatedNordan Testimony (188.36 KB) -
Mr. David Rejeski
Director, Foresight and Governance Project and Project on Emerging NanotechnologiesWoodrow Wilson CenterRejeski Testimony (93.40 KB) -
Dr. P. Lee Ferguson
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry and BiochemistryUniversity of South CarolinaFerguson Testimony (46.31 KB) -
Dr. Anita Goel MD, PhD
Chairman, CEO, and Scientific DirectorNanobiosym IncorporatedGoel Testimony (93.50 KB) -
Dr. Jim Heath
DirectorNSB Cancer CenterHeath Testimony (19.75 KB)