Official: Federal Nanotech EHS ( Environmental Health and Safety ) Research is a Priority

Dr. Celia Merzbacher, co-chair of the U.S. National Science and Technology Council's Nanoscale Engineering and Technology Subcommittee, defended the U.S. government's spending on nanotechnology Environmental Health and Safety research, announcing that the Bush administration is requesting $44 million for nanotech EHS research in 2007. Merzbacher's announcement was in part a response to the National Research Council's Committee to Review the National Nanotechnology Initiative that the level of funding for EHS funding needed to be increased if the potential of nanotechnology is to be realized. Andrew Maynard, chief science adviser for the Woodrow Wilson International Health Center for Scholar's Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, is urging the Bush administration to spend at least $100 million on EHS research over the next 2 years.