Mega scale-up of nanotechnology research budget mulled
This article was originally published in The Gold Sheet
Executive Summary
FDA could certainly use the additional $25 million per year for nanotechnology research that Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., has proposed to authorize for the next five years, Commissioner Margaret Hamburg told the Senate Appropriations Committee March 9. Hamburg was there to defend the agency's fiscal year 2011 budget request, which includes $7 million for nanotechnology-related regulatory science activities. Much of the additional research the senator from Arkansas proposed would take place at the agency's National Center for Toxicological Research in Jefferson, Ark. When Pryor asked if FDA could spend the extra $25 million wisely, Hamburg assured him that it's a "very, very important emerging technology" and that "we always have to evolve our capabilities as emerging technologies also evolve" (see "The Pink Sheet," March 15, 2010