WASHINGTON -- As the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently stated, nanotechnology has evolved from a futuristic idea to watch to a current issue to address. And for this new technology's enormous potential to improve everyone's life to be realized, nanotechnology must be subject to an adequate oversight system -- a system designed to identify and minimize any adverse effects of nano materials and products on health or the environment.

A new report by J. Clarence (Terry) Davies, EPA and Nanotechnology: Oversight for the 21st Century, examines the EPA role in nanotechnology oversight. The report considers various oversight tools for dealing with nanotechnology and proposes a number of action steps for government, industry, and other stakeholders.

According to Davies, the nanotechnology revolution provides an opportunity to institute new kinds of regulation, to create an oversight system for nanotechnology that will be more effective but less intrusive than existing forms of regulation and that will require fewer resources from both the public and private sectors. Nanotechnology can also be a catalyst for the revitalization of EPA.

Please join us for the release of this forward-thinking report with author Davies, senior fellow at Resources for the Future, and senior advisor to the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies. Dr. Davies also wrote the report, Managing the Effects of Nanotechnology, released in January 2006 by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies.

           *** Webcast LIVE at 
http://www.wilsoncenter.org/nano ***

    Who:    J. Clarence (Terry) Davies, Senior Fellow, Resources for the
            Future and Senior Advisor, Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies

            David Rejeski, Director, Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies,
            Moderator

    What:   A new report, EPA and Nanotechnology: Oversight for the 21st
            Century

    When:   Wednesday, May 23, 2007, 10:00 - 11:00 a.m.

    Where:  Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 6th Floor Flom
            Auditorium, Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center,
            1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.
            (Directions: 
http://www.wilsoncenter.org/directions )

This event is being organized by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies. The Project was launched in 2005 by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and The Pew Charitable Trusts. It is dedicated to helping business, governments, and the public anticipate and manage the possible health and environmental implications of nanotechnology.

Media planning to cover the event should contact Sharon McCarter at (202) 691-4016.

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Web site: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/.