Director of Cambridge Chamber of Commerce Responds to PEN’s Boston Globe Article on Nano-plan.

A letter from the Director of Government Affairs for the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts’ Chamber of Commerce was recently published in the Boston Globe responding to a prior opposite editorial article submitted by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnology’s David Rejeksi.  The Cambridge Director indicated that he believes the op ed article "takes some liberties in summarizing the recommendations regarding nanomaterials recently accepted by the Cambridge City Council."  He went on to explain that the "recommendations include an inventory of facilities handling these materials, a voluntary technical assistance program using resources in place in Cambridge, public education, and regular reports to the City Council. The recommendations do not include a plan to establish an inventory of materials as Rejeski writes.  Rather, it recommends using existing emergency planning and data collection efforts led by the Cambridge Fire Department and the Local Emergency Planning Committee, in cooperation with the Cambridge Public Health Department, to collect basic information from facilities to assess potential risks, exposures, and exposure mitigation strategies."  You can find a copy of the actual Cambridge Nanotechnology Advisory Committee recommendations here.