On Wednesday, April 20, 2022 I had the opportunity to testify on behalf of the NanoBusiness Commercialization Association (NanoBCA)  at the EPA’s TSCA New Chemicals Collaborative Research Program Meeting. I would like to share my testimony with our nanotechnology community.

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Thank you for holding this meeting and for the opportunity to make public remarks today.  My name is Vincent Caprio, and I am Founder and Executive Director of the NanoBusiness Commercialization Association.

The NanoBusiness Commercialization Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating a collaborative environment that nurtures research and innovation in nanotechnology, promotes technology transfer of nanotechnologies from academia to industry, encourages private capital investments in nanotechnology companies, and helps its company members bring nanotechnology products to the market. Since its establishment, the NanoBusiness Commercialization Association has been advocating for increased investment of government funds to nanotechnology, such as basic research and Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants, throughout all the major government agencies.

I wanted to take a moment today to underscore my Association’s support, and my personal support, for President Biden’s fiscal year 2023 request of $11.881 billion for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is a long-overdue increase. I am not sure the increase is enough honestly, but it is more than a $2 billion increase from last year’s budget, and a good start for fully funding our national’s top priority: protecting and restoring our environment.

Further, I wanted to highlight specifically my support for the budget request for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, EPA’s office for the management of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). This budget request is $124 million, an increase of over $60 million from last year, almost doubling the funding for the program.  The budget request also includes critical staff increases of dozens of new subject matter experts and scientists for the TSCA program.

In 2018, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. My cancer is the result of certain environmental exposures. So you can see, this topic is very personal to me. The work of EPA’s chemical management programs is critical to ensuring our full understanding of risks from chemicals using the best available science by the best scientists. The role of the office, and its career staff, is essential, and I am glad to see that the budget request reflects the importance of investing in these programs.

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In addition to recommending events that are relevant to our nanotechnology community, NanoBCA offers our members the opportunity to participate in our monthly webinars. Our monthly webinars address topics involving the relationship between the science of nanotechnology and Environmental, Health & Safety (EHS), US Legislation, Covid-19, Education, Finance, Manufacturing and Foreign Policy.

Our next NanoBCA webinar is scheduled for Wednesday, April 27th at 2PM ET.

INDIVIDUAL MEMBERSHIP $250

ACADEMIC/YOUNG PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP $100

START-UP CORPORATION MEMBERSHIP $1,000

One of the benefits of NanoBCA membership is access to our previous webinars with America’s leading scientists and engineers.

We look forward to continuing our legacy relationships and welcoming a new generation of NanoBCA members.

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It was an honor and a privilege to have the opportunity to testify at the EPA’s TSCA New Chemicals Collaborative Research Program Meeting.