Date: 2003-05-07
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of the amendment that I have for H.R. 766. It has to do with adding under the auspices of the National Science Foundation a citizens advisory committee. There is nothing sinister about my desire to do this. I want to do this because I feel that more and more citizen input is demanded by citizens. This research will be paid for by citizens. And to have someone to sit and listen and get an understanding simply creates a more positive attitude throughout society. I feel. with the research. This is going to be research that people do not understand very well. Even the researchers will not understand it too well until they start to do the research. It could provide revolutionary advances in health care and dramatically increase our lifespan. But people need to know this. They need to know that this is not going to be perhaps research on stem cells or whatever. so that the fears can be allayed. the anxieties can be eliminated because of this. This powerful and pervasive technology. while promising great benefits. has its downsides. While I support the bill. I do have -that one concern. that the views of the general public who will bear the brunt of the consequences. both good and bad. have no input in the planning and execution of the research program and no input as to asking questions and getting answers as the research goes on. As I indicated. taxpayers are paying for the development of this technology and they have a right to have a voice in this research agenda. My amendment goes to the heart of this problem. It provides for small panels of ordinary citizens to be assembled to examine important societal issues about nanotechnology. Panelists would be selected across the socioeconomic spectrum. ordinary. practical Americans. These citizen panels would hear expert testimony from those doing the research. listen to arguments about the applications and consequences pre-. sented by all sides and develop an agenda of major public issues to address. These John Q. Public panels will provide agencies carrying out the nanotechnology R&D program and the broader public of the common ground among the crosssection of Americans on the goals and directions of this R&D program. The bill does provide support for experts to address the societal and ethical concerns of nanotechnology. However. that is the problem when only the experts are involved. These are the same type of experts that did not provide effective guidance on how to address societal and ethical concerns on genetically modified foods. and now we still have a question about whether or not they are safe to eat. human stem cell research and cloning. As a witness pointed out during a hearing on nanotechnology. social and ethical expert panels frequently become captive to the technology they are supposed to be providing oversight on. I believe that there is evidence that expert panels are not by themselves sufficient to address broad public concerns. That is why my amendment explicitly calls for citizen panels. Members may ask. why is this important? Just think about the public backlash and debate on genetically modified organisms. think Frankenfoods. human stem cell research. and cloning to name a few. When the public was asked to accept the results of these technologies and asked simple. commonsensical questions. the research community said trust us. the fatalists said the world would come to an end. and no one really required the science community to sit down with the public and discuss the benefits and possible costs of these technologies. As a result. the full potential of these technologies have not been realized. Citizen panels promise to avoid this logjam by allowing the publics voice to be heard during the development period of the tnchnology. not after it is introduced. Today I ask my colleagues to support this amendment to put in place a proven approach to help increase public understanding of nanotechnology and provide an avenue for ordinary Americans to influence the direction of this R&D initiative.