Safe advancement of nanotechnology will be addressed
Dr. John Howard, director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), will deliver the keynote address to the 2006 CleanRooms Contamination Control Technology (CCT) Conference & Exhibition being held March 15-16 in Boston, Mass.
 Dr. John Howard, director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), will keynote the CleanRooms CCT conference in Boston. |
“I can think of no one more appropriate or compelling than Dr. Howard to address our conference this year,” says John Haystead, chairman of the CleanRooms Conference Steering Committee. “This year’s conference highlights the critical role that contamination-control technology plays in providing for the safe advancement of nanotechnology and in the safe and efficient manufacture of nanotechnology-based products across a wide range of industries. And, as Dr. Howard clearly states in his message introducing NIOSH’s Approaches to Safe Nanotechnology: An Information Exchange with NIOSH, ‘It is imperative that the scientific community come together to advance our understanding of nanotechnology and its implications in the workplace.’”
The NIOSH document has been developed to provide a resource for stakeholders who wish to understand more about the safety and health applications and implications of nanotechnology in the workplace. Accordingly, the agency expects it to be of particular interest to:
- Those tasked with understanding how nanotechnology may affect occupational health and devising strategies for working safely with nanomaterials.
- Researchers working with or planning to work with engineered nanomaterials.
- Policy- and decision-makers in government agencies and industry.
- Risk-evaluation professionals.
- People working with or potentially exposed to engineered nanomaterials in the workplace.
Haystead points out that the scientists, engineers and technicians who make up the contamination-control profession are uniquely positioned to expedite this education process. “Not only is the community composed of professionals with expertise in materials, facility design, process engineering, personnel safety, packaging, and monitoring and reporting technology, but it also represents a host of user industries as well as academicians and regulatory authorities. We believe the CleanRooms CCT Conference offers a unique forum to reach out and connect to these experts and centers of expertise.”
NIOSH’s Howard agrees: “This is an extremely appropriate group to describe and advance NIOSH’s ongoing activities in raising awareness of potential safety and health concerns from exposure to nanomaterials.”
Prior to his appointment as director of NIOSH, Dr. Howard served as chief of the Division of Occupational Safety and Health in the California Department of Industrial Relations from 1991 through 2002. He received his Doctor of Medicine from Loyola University of Chicago in 1974, his Master of Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health in 1982, his Doctor of Law from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1986, and his Master of Law in Administrative Law from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C., in 1987.
Dr. Howard is board-certified in internal medicine and occupational medicine. He is admitted to the practice of medicine and law in the State of California and in the District of Columbia, and he is a member of the U.S. Supreme Court bar. He has written numerous articles on occupational-health law and policy.