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Scientists warned Wednesday that innovation in the emerging field of nanotechnology is being threatened by uncertainty about its risks.
The concerns were aired at a U.S. House subcommittee hearing about a lack of progress by the federal government in developing a plan to research nanotechnology's environmental, health and safety risks.
Nanotechnology is the design and control of matter that is 100 nanometers across, or smaller. A piece of paper is about 100,000 nanometers thick. According to the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, an independent advocacy group, more than $30 billion in products incorporating nanotechnology were sold globally in 2005.
Environmentalists and some scientists say small, specially designed matter warrants extra concern because such particles can easily get inside human cells, or are easily dispersed through the air or in nature.
The real, but unknown, risks are stifling corporate investment in nanotechnology, said Vicki Colvin, director of Rice University's Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology, who testified Wednesday.
Full Story: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/tech/news/5263183.html
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Scientists Fear Progress Lags in Nano Risk Analysis
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By ERIC BERGER
Houston Chronicle, November 1, 2007
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