This opinion piece, by Richard Denison, senior scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), argues that despite a new political climate where the idea of any regulation is shied away from, a little regulation would have done – and still could do – nanotechnology a world of good. Denison lays out the history of the debate over nanomaterial safety and regulation in the United States, and describes the series of false starts toward developing a process to ensure that regulatory agencies have the basic information they need to understand what is happening in the world of nanotechnology. An understanding, he says, that we are no closer to in 2011 than we were in 2004, when much of this dialogue began. The modest steps the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has taken over the years are all simply information-gathering mechanisms. None would regulate production or use of even a single nanomaterial, Denison says. It has not stopped the NanoBusiness Alliance from recently submitting a “wish list” of regulations it wants blocked to House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, one of which is a regulation that is not even proposed yet. In addition, a new interagency group recently established by the White House’s National Economic Council (NEC) has been charged with overseeing any and all proposed nanotechnology regulatory activities, and to make sure such regulations are warranted. The result of these developments, says Denison, is that “[W]e can expect yet more delay before EPA gets the information it needs to do its job in deciding how best to identify and address potential risks posed by nanomaterials.” He concludes: “A little regulation could go a long way toward restoring confidence in our ability to produce and use these emerging materials in a manner that reaps the benefits and avoids the harm they may otherwise cause. That’s what I mean when I say there’s such a thing as regulating nanomaterials … to life. You’d think the industry would get that.” The article can be viewed online at the link below.
http://blogs.edf.org/nanotechnology/2011/01/28/regulating-nanomaterials-to-life-not-death/