Participation in Federal Nanotechnology Policy
Loka played a catalytic role in persuading Congress to include provisions in the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act, which was passed and signed by the President in 2003, and we have stayed active since. Loka President Langdon Winner of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, testified on the need for such input before the House Science Committee during the legislative process.
We also mobilized a broad-based group of community activists, academics, and university and philanthropic leaders to sign a letter to elected officials and science policy advisors to include specific participatory provisions in the pending legislation. Shortly after the legislation was signed into law, Loka organized a workshop at Howard University in 2004 for community activists from around the country to make recommendations about how to implement the participation provision after it became law. We continue to participate, in panels, seminars and the like, to promote the voices of everyday citizens -- not just entrepreneurs and policy wonks -- in policymaking for science and technology.
Loka Board Chair Rick Worthington has presented his analysis of the political economy of participation in nanotechnology policy to an international conference of community researchers and science policy activists. In 2007, we submitted comments on a nano risk framework proposed by DuPont and Environmental Defense, and several Loka participants -- Colleen Cordes, Debony Hart, Darshell Silva, Greg Tanaka, Rick Worthington, and Lea Zeldin -- are active in a coalition of public interest, popular education and labor groups that are bringing participatory, environmental, and social concerns into global policy discourse over nanotech. This group developed Joint Principles for Oversight of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnologies released July 31, 2007 (the group announced the principles in a press release). More than 40 organizations worldwide--ranging from small organizations such as Accion Ecologica in Ecuador and the International Center for Technology Assessment in Washington, to the AFL-CIO and Friends of the Earth--signed the principles. A Loka Alert addressing our take on the politics of nanotechnology--including the case for a pause in commercialization--was issued in August 2007.
Most recently, Loka was one of several organizations joining a legal petition demanding that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulate consumer products using nanoscale versions of silver. Nanosilver is the most common commercialized nanoproduct, and is used to kill micro-organisms and bacteria (raising concerns with some early scientific backing about health and environmental effects of corollary circulation through ecosystems).
We also worked with several organizations to draft Model Legislation and a letter on legislation in the United States Congress that extends funding for the National Nanotechnology Initiative by amending the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act of 2003 (see above). A broad array of consumer, labor, and environmental groups has extensively and regularly criticized the Initiative for its paltry funding of environmental health and safety (EHS) research (about one percent of total funding), to which Loka and a few others have added concern about social and ethical dimensions and, especially, public input into the program. The initial draft of the bill included a minimum expense for EHS research of 10% of total expenditures. Our model legislation calls for a floor of 40% for EHS, social-ethical, and public input activities, but as we were drafting them the 10% floor was deleted from the bill when the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy threatened opposition if the bill did not gain bipartisan support. Our coalition is the only voice opposing the consensus in official Washington, Democratic and Republican, that is promoting rapid commercialization of nanotechnology and largely ignoring the likely negative consequences of this posture.
Summary of Articles Referenced Above:
Langdon Winner's Testimony on Nanotechnology Research to the House Science Committee
Letter to Congress Advocating Participation Requirement in Federal Nanotechnology R&D Act
Loka - Howard University Community Workshop on Nanotechnology R&D Implementation
Rick Worthington on Participation in Nanotech Policy
Loka Comments on DuPont/ Environmental Defense Nano Risk Framework
Joint Principles for Oversight of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnologies
Joint Principles Press Release
Loka Alert 11:1, August 7, 2007: Precaution, Participation and Nanotechnology
2008 Model Nanotech Legislation
Executive Summary
NanoAction Letter to Senate Commerce Committee