Tag Archives: oversight

More bureaucracy for nanotechnology oversight?

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J. Clarence (Terry) Davies has authored a second report on nanotechnology oversight for the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies calling for a new government department, an environmental and consumer protection agency. The report and a brief video interview with Davies are here.

I did watch the video and as I’ve noted elsewhere I don’t think that Davies understands nanotechnology very well. His responses were a little over-rehearsed as were the questions. The most interesting part of the video was when he said that the reason for suggesting a new government agency was to stimulate discussion and thought rather than an exhortation to create yet another government entity.

Meanwhile, I got a notice today that Nanotech BC has suspended operations until they secure funding. As of May 1, 2009 the mailing address and telephone number will be:

Nanotech BC
c/o Michael Alldritt
FP Innovations — Forintek Division
2665 East Mall Vancouver, BC V6T 1W5
tel (604) 222-5728
fax (604) 222-5690
info@nanotechbc.ca

Ongoing nano oversight discussions

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The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN) has a couple of ‘oversight’ events coming up. The first is on Tuesday, April 28,2009 at 9 am PST and features discussion of a report ‘Oversight of Next Generation Nanotechnology‘ by J. Clarence Davies, a former US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official. I wasn’t particularly thrilled the last time PEN had one of these events back in July 2008. Davies was the speaker that time too and the talk was very EPA-centric and I did not feel that Davies had a good grasp of nanotechnology.  For more information about this event or to RSVP if you’re planning to attend, go here.

Their second event will be on Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at 9 am PST. It’s called, ‘Transatlantic Regulatory Cooperation: Securing the Promise of Nanotechnologies‘. This event is the result of a collaboration between the London School of Economics, Chatham House, Environmental Law Institute, and PEN.Here’s something from their email notice,

[The purpose] is aimed at generating and examining new ideas to enable greater transatlantic convergence on nanotechnology oversight today and in the future.

For more details or to RSVP, you can go here.

Finally I have an update on the Martha Cook Piper situation. (She was appointed as the chair to Canada’s National Institute of Nanotechnology [NINT] last April and I’ve been trying to get an interview for several months.) I just heard today that I will be getting some answers to my question in the next few weeks. Plus, I notice that she was finally listed on NINT’s website. You can see the listing and a bit of a biography here.