Improved Governance Needed To Realize Nanotech's Benefits

Nanotech Expert Will Highlight Hurdles To Government Oversight & Gaining
Public Trust

WASHINGTON, April 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Without an improved
governance structure, the benefits of nanotechnology may be difficult to fully
realize because the public will not trust the cutting-edge technology, says
David Rejeski, director of the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN).
Rejeski testifies on Thursday, April 24, before the Senate subcommittee on
technology and innovation.
"Public trust is the 'dark horse' in nanotechnology's future," states
Rejeski in his testimony. "If government and industry do not work to build
public confidence in nanotechnology, consumers may reach for the 'No-Nano'
label in the future and investors will put their money elsewhere. Public
perceptions about risks -- real and perceived -- can have large economic
impacts. For example, the European Union's ban on genetically modified foods,
driven largely by public concerns, cost American farmers an estimated $300
million annually in lost sales and much more in products that never made it to
the marketplace."
Congressional lawmakers are currently discussing amendments to and
reauthorization of the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research & Development Act,
which helps sets the roadmap for the annual $1.5 billion federal spending on
nanotechnology research that is vital to ensuring the technology's success.
What: Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee Subcommittee on
Science, Technology and Innovation hearing "National Nanotechnology
Initiative: Charting the Course for Reauthorization"

When: April 24, 2008, 2:30 p.m.

Where: Russell Senate Office Building Room 253, Washington, DC

Who: David Rejeski directs the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies. For
the past eight years, he has also been the Director of the
Foresight and Governance Project at the Woodrow Wilson Center. He
has held various positions at the White House Council on
Environmental Quality (CEQ), the White House Office of Science and
Technology (OSTP), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
He sits on the advisory boards of a number of organizations,
including EPA's Science Advisory Board. He has graduate degrees in
public administration and environmental design from Harvard and
Yale.

About Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is the ability to measure, see, manipulate and manufacture
things usually between 1 and 100 nanometers. A nanometer is one billionth of a
meter; a human hair is roughly 100,000 nanometers wide. By 2014, Lux Research
projects that $2.6 trillion in global manufactured goods will incorporate
nanotechnology, or about 15 percent of total global output.
The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (www.nanotechproject.org) is an
initiative launched by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
and The Pew Charitable Trusts in 2005. It is dedicated to helping business,
government and the public anticipate and manage possible health and
environmental implications of nanotechnology.
SOURCE The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies

Colin Finan, Public Affairs & Policy Associate, +1-202-691-4321,
colin.finan@wilsoncenter.org, for The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies