Chart: Federal Nanotech Funding Shortchanges Safety Efforts

(March 24) -- The federal government funds nanotech activities primarily through the National Nanotechnology Initiative, which supports the nano-related efforts of 15 different agencies. The money those agencies get varies significantly and reflects Washington's nanotech priorities.

Another way of putting it -- with apologies for the cliché -- is that the government is getting what it pays for.

The recipient of the largest sum from the NNI is the Defense Department, which is using nanomaterial in items such as detectors, antennas, sensors, flame-proof uniforms and ballistic protection. Close behind is the National Science Foundation, which is funding research aimed at enabling reliable, cost-effective manufacturing of nanoscale materials, structures, devices and systems. The Energy Department says it is researching nanomaterial to "achieve atomic and molecular control of matter and energy" and focuses much of its efforts on batteries and energy storage.

Out of the almost $1.8 billion that the government has budgeted in 2010 for nanotechnology, only $91.6 million has been designated for environment, health and safety efforts. Some of that will be spent by the numerous departments of the National Institutes of Health that are conducting a wide range of nano-research, including exploring the physical and chemical properties of nanomaterials, thus, according to NNI, supplying critical data for hazard and risk assessment. The National Institute of Standards and Technology is collaborating with other agencies and some industry players to establish links between physicochemical properties and exposure effects in biological systems, the environment and the workplace.

The White House and NNI stress that other parts of an agency's budget can be used for safety-related issues if the agency desires.

But many public health experts and federal agencies' own safety researchers say the current distribution provides far too little money to protect people from nanomaterials' potential risks.



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