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Specifically, the bill would:

• Establish the National Nanotechnology Advisory Panel, which would be responsible for recommending an appropriate funding level for the environmental, health, and safety (EHS) program component area. The bill would also establish a subpanel focused on the societal, ethical, legal, environmental, and workforce issues related to nanotechnology;
• Provide consistent funding for the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO) through the participating federal agencies;
• Require the NNCO to establish a publicly available database of the projects funded in the EHS program component area, the educational and societal dimensions program component area, and the nanomanufacturing program component area;
• Require an Office of Science and Technology Policy official to serve as the Coordinator for Societal Dimensions of Nanotechnology. The Coordinator would be required to develop and annually update a research plan for the EHS program component area;
• Support the development of standards, metrology, and characterization tools for nanotechnology;
• Promote technology transfer through the Small Business Innovation Research Program and the Small Business Technology Transfer Program, and make federally funded nanotechnology facilities available to companies to assist in the development of prototypes of nanoscale products, devices, or processes;
• Promote nanotechnology research and development in areas of national importance, including nano-electronics, energy efficiency, health care, water remediation, instrumentation and characterization, and rapid production nanomanufacturing;
• Require the Government Accountability Office to conduct a comprehensive study of federal codes, standards, and regulations as they relate to the safe production, use, and disposal of engineered nanomaterials and products containing nanomaterials; and
• Require the NNCO to engage the public by convening a national discussion on nanotechnology. This national discussion would include diverse participation and incorporate the views of academia, nongovernmental organizations, and industry to identify priorities and concerns related to nanotechnology research and development, products, and regulatory policy.

Witnesses at the hearing included:

• Dr. Clayton Teague, Director of the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office;
• Mr. Floyd Kvamme, Co-Chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology;
• Dr. Vicki Colvin, Executive Director, International Council on Nanotechnology and Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Rice University;
• Dr. Andrew Maynard, Chief Science Advisor, Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars;
• Dr. Richard Denison, Senior Scientist, Environmental Defense; and
• Mr. Paul D. Ziegler, Chairman of the Nanotechnology Panel, American Chemistry Council.

The document identifies 25 priority research needs across five research categories.  The needs are listed from highest to lowest priority for each category, with the exception of those presented in the category Nanomaterials and Human Health.  The Nanomaterials and Human Health Task Force gave equal weight to identified research needs under an overarching research priority for the category.

Research Category:  Instrumentation, Metrology, and Analytical Methods

1. Develop methods to detect nanomaterials in biological matrices, the environment, and the workplace.
2. Understand how chemical and physical modifications affect the properties of nanomaterials.
3. Develop methods for standardizing assessment of particle size, size distribution, shape, structure, and surface area.
4. Develop certified reference materials for chemical and physical characterization of nanomaterials.
5. Develop methods to characterize a nanomaterial’s spatio-chemical composition, purity, and heterogeneity.

Research Category:  Nanomaterials and Human Health

Overarching Research Priority:  Understand generalizable characteristics of nanomaterials in relation to toxicity in biological systems.

Broad Research Needs:

• Develop methods to quantify and characterize exposure to nanomaterials and characterize nanomaterials in biological matrices.
• Understand the absorption and transport of nanomaterials throughout the human body.
• Establish the relationship between the properties of nanomaterials and uptake via the respiratory or digestive tracts or through the eyes or skin, and assess body burden.
• Determine the mechanisms of interaction between nanomaterials and the body at the molecular, cellular, and tissular levels.
• Identify or develop appropriate in vitro and in vivo assays/models to predict in vivo human responses to nanomaterials exposure.

Research Category:  Nanomaterials and the Environment

1. Understand the effects of engineered nanomaterials in individuals of a species and the applicability of testing schemes to measure effects.
2. Understand environmental exposures through identification of principle sources of exposure and exposure routes.
3. Evaluate abiotic and ecosystem-wide effects.
4. Determine factors affecting the environmental transport of nanomaterials.
5. Understand the transformation of nanomaterials under different environmental conditions.

Research Category:  Health and Environmental Exposure Assessment

1. Characterize exposures among workers.
2. Identify population groups and environments exposed to engineered nanoscale materials.
3. Characterize exposure to the general population from industrial processes and industrial and consumer products containing nanomaterials.
4. Characterize health of exposed populations and environments.
5. Understand workplace processes and factors that determine exposure to nanomaterials.

Research Category:  Risk Management Methods

Overarching Research Priority:  Evaluate the appropriateness and effectiveness of current and emerging risk management approaches for identifying those nanomaterials with the greatest potential risks.

Broad Research Needs:

1. Understand and develop best workplace practices, processes, and environmental exposure controls.
2. Examine product or material life cycle to inform risk reduction decisions.
3. Develop risk characterization information to determine and classify nanomaterials based on physical or chemical properties.
4. Develop nanomaterial-use and safety-incident trend information to help focus risk management efforts.
5. Develop specific risk communication approaches and materials.