Nada Known about Nano – Reporting Requirement Inches Forward

As the nanotechnology industry continues to grow, government policies are slowly being developed to gather basic information on potential threats to the environment and public health. For years, the federal government has promoted the nanotech industry, even though little has been known about the environmental and public health impacts of the materials. Recent actions by California, Canada, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will require companies to report data on potential threats from the use of nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology – the development and use of materials on the scale of individual atoms and molecules – has received federal support in the form of public-private partnerships and funding to research, develop, and commercialize new technologies. However, research on the health and environmental impacts of these new materials has lagged significantly behind these promotion efforts. The House recently passed a bill (H.R. 554) to reauthorize the primary federal nanotechnology research program, the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI). Included in the reauthorization is an expanded focus on evaluating growing environmental, health, and safety concerns. The bill was introduced by Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN) on Jan. 15.

On the state level, California appears to be the furthest along in collecting information about the potential impacts from nanotechnology. California's Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) recently issued an "information call-in" that outlined the department's intent "to request information regarding analytical test methods, fate and transport in the environment, and other relevant information from manufacturers of carbon nanotubes." The department then sent formal letters to more than two dozen companies and institutions that use carbon nanotubes – one of the most common nanomaterials – requesting a range of information. According to the DTSC, this information request "will identify gaps in the existing information that could be filled to better protect human health and the environment." The California information request cites several studies that identify potential environmental and public health threats from carbon nanotubes as one of the reasons for the need to fill the data gaps.

In January, BNA (subscription required) reported that Canada is preparing to require Canadian companies to report their use of nanomaterials. Environment Canada, the national environmental agency, will begin data collection in February to assess the risks from nanomaterials and identify actions needed to protect public health. The Canadian program will be similar to an EPA program started in early 2008, the Nanoscale Materials Stewardship Program (NMSP). However, the EPA program is a voluntary reporting system that has experienced very little participation.

The EPA called its voluntary program's data collection a success, despite the fact that the interim report on the NMSP, released in January, acknowledged that only 29 companies had submitted data. The report also noted that only four companies had agreed to conduct tests of their materials, leading the agency to conclude that "most companies are not inclined to voluntarily test their nanoscale materials."

Beyond the NMSP, EPA is also taking a small but important step toward filling data gaps on nanomaterials. In October 2008, the agency announced that carbon nanotubes are considered to be "new chemicals," which require submission of a premanufacture notice (PMN) that provides the agency with basic information about the new chemicals. The PMN submissions require all available data on chemical identity, production volume, byproducts, use, environmental release, disposal practices, and human exposure. This collection of basic data allows EPA to help manage the potential risk from chemicals new to the marketplace.

The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, a partnership between the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Pew Charitable Trusts, estimates that $60 billion worth of nano-enabled products were sold in 2007, with sales estimated to have grown to $150 billion in 2008. More than 600 nanotechnology-enabled consumer products are on the market.

Nanotechnology uses materials that are from one to 100 nanometers in size. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter (for perspective, a sheet of paper is about 100,000 nanometers thick). Nanoscale particles tend to be more chemically reactive than their ordinary-sized counterparts because they have more surface area. At the nanoscale, materials have different chemical and physical properties than materials at larger scales. For example, the NNI states, "There is potential for nanosized particles to be transported through cell walls and other biological barriers in ways that are different from their macroscale counterparts."

Nanotechnology research is seeking to apply nanomaterials in, among other areas, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, batteries, photovoltaics, and even bioengineered food.

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