Dec. 1, 2005 – An inventory of research into nanotechnology’s potential environmental, human health, and safety effects (EHS) was unveiled this week by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The Project is a partnership of The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Wilson Center.

The group says its inventory shows a need for more resources, for a coherent risk-related research strategy, and for public-private partnerships and international EHS research collaborations.

“The inventory gives government officials and scientists in industry and academe the opportunity to work together,” said Andrew Maynard, the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies’ chief scientist, in a prepared statement. “It enables them to develop a coherent research roadmap and to set research priorities. It helps makes possible the planning necessary to create public-private sector partnerships and international collaborations for risk-related nanotechnology research programs in the future.”

Maynard said the inventory identifies about $27 million currently being spent by the U.S. government on EHS. However, he said little is being spent to investigate workplace safety issues like the risk of explosion in production of nanopowders; that virtually none of the work deals with future generations of nanomaterials; and that little funding is allocated to explore possible links between exposure to nanomaterials and diseases of the lung, heart or skin.

The federal government’s National Nanotechnology Initiative estimates that approximately $39 million annually in government funds are directed at EHS R&D. The Wilson Institute acknowledged that its inventory is not comprehensive and said it will work to expand it.