Project Press Releases
- May 23, 2007pdfNanotechnology May Pose EPA's Greatest Challenge and OpportunityStatement by William D. Ruckelshaus, First Administrator (1970-73) and Former Administrator (1983-85), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- May 23, 2007pdfNanotechnology Requires Immediate Changes in EPARegulatory oversight of nanotechnology is urgently needed and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should act now, reports a new study released today. In EPA and Nanotechnology: Oversight for the 21st Century, former EPA assistant administrator for policy, planning and evaluation, J. Clarence (Terry) Davies, provides a roadmap for a new EPA to better handle the challenges of nanotechnology. New nanomaterials and nanotechnology products are entering the market each week, and an adequate oversight system is necessary to identify and minimize any adverse effects of nano materials and products on health or the environment. Davies’ report sets out an agenda for creating an effective oversight system as nanotechnology advances—the technology that some have hailed as “the next industrial revolution.”
- May 17, 2007pdfMapping the New U.S. "Nano Metro" Economy: Five Cities Lead as Nanotech Business, Research, and Education ClustersWith nanotechnology poised to be the globe’s next big economic driver, five U.S. cities have emerged as the country’s top “Nano Metro” locations—areas with the nation’s highest concentration of nanotech companies, universities, research laboratories, and organizations.
- May 15, 2007pdfNanotechnology Now Used in Nearly 500 Everyday ProductsThe number of consumer products using nanotechnology has more than doubled, from 212 to 475, in the 14 months since the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies launched the world’s first online inventory of manufacturer-identified nanotech goods in March 2006. Clothing and cosmetics top the inventory at 77 and 75 products, respectively. A list of nanotechnology products that also includes bedding, jewelry, sporting goods, nutritional and personal care items is available free at www.nanotechproject.org/consumerproducts.
- April 26, 2007pdfNanotechnology Provides "Green" Path to Environmentally Sustainable EconomyAs products made with nanometer-scale materials and devices spread to more industries and markets, there is a growing opportunity and responsibility to leverage nanotechnology to reduce pollution, conserve resources and, ultimately, build a “clean” economy, advises a new report from the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies.
- April 23, 2007pdfNanotechnology Offers Hope for Treating Spinal Cord Injuries, Diabetes, Heart and Parkinson's DiseaseImagine a world where damaged organs in your body—kidneys, liver, heart—can be stimulated to heal themselves. Envision people tragically paralyzed whose injured spinal cords can be repaired. Think about individuals suffering from the debilitating effects of Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s relieved of their symptoms – completely and permanently.
- April 23, 2007pdfNew Report Explores Nanotechnology's FutureControlling the properties and behavior of matter at the smallest scale—in effect, “domesticating atoms”—can help to overcome some of the world’s biggest challenges, concludes a new report on how diverse experts view the future of nanotechnology. Released today, NanoFrontiers: Visions for the Future of Nanotechnology, summarizes discussions among over 50 scientists, engineers, ethicists, policymakers, and other experts, as well as information gathered in follow-up interviews and from specially prepared background papers, about the long-term potential of nanotechnology.
- April 20, 2007pdfTrips to the NanoFrontierNanotechnology’s many anticipated benefits will arrive in waves of innovation, beginning with today’s stain-resistant clothing and other first-generation applications and extending decades into the future, when extraordinarily advanced products, from self-repairing tissues to quantum computers, may become practical.
- April 17, 2007pdfNew Methods & Tools Needed to Measure Exposure to Airborne NanomaterialsNew methods and tools for measuring exposure to airborne engineered nanomaterials will be required to protect the health of workers in nanotechnology-related jobs—estimated to total 10 million people by 2014—according to two occupational health experts writing in the inaugural issue of the journal Nanotoxicology.
- March 28, 2007pdfInternational Risk Research Strategy & Funding Needed for Nanotech SafetyToday, the Council for Science and Technology—the British government’s top-level advisory body on science and technology issues—criticized the slow progress being made in providing needed support for focused research into the potential hazards of nanotechnology. CST’s comments are contained in a new review of the UK government’s response to recommendations made by the Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering in their landmark 2004 assessment of nanotechnology’s opportunities and hazards.
