> Thursday, June 23, 2005
> 
> ----------
> 
> Industry, Environmentalists Offer Plan For Possible
> Nanotech Rules
> 
> 
> The chemical industry and a major environmental
> group have announced a 
> joint proposal for how EPA should consider
> regulating nanoparticles as the 
> agency examines the risks posed by the emerging
> field of 
> nanotechnology.  The plan calls for broad
> negotiations on possible changes 
> to regulations under the Toxic Substances Control
> Act (TSCA).
> 
> 
> Nanotechnology refers to chemicals that are
> manipulated at the molecular 
> level, resulting in unique properties that are
> expected to have widespread 
> industrial and medical uses. The plan is significant
> because it is likely 
> the first joint effort by industry and
> environmentalists to weigh in on the 
> regulatory debate over the emerging issue, sources
> say.
> 
> 
> Environmental Defense and the American Chemistry
> Council 
>
<http://insideepa.com/secure/data_extra/dir_05/epa2005_1102a.pdf>released
> 
> the plan at a June 23 EPA public meeting on
> nanotechnology, which calls for 
> international efforts to standardize testing and
> risk assessment protocols 
> for nanotechnology development, and the drafting of
> measures to protect 
> human health and the environment while regulators,
> industry and the 
> scientific community continue to research and
> develop the technology. A 
> number of other environmental groups, environmental
> consultants and 
> technology companies made presentations at the EPA
> meeting in Washington, DC.
> 
> 
> While EPA has authority under TSCA to regulate “new”
> chemicals, the unique 
> composition of nanoparticles is raising questions
> over how the law applies 
> to existing chemicals. Section 5 of TSCA requires
> manufacturers of new 
> chemicals to submit premanufacture notification
> (PMN) that includes data on 
> toxicity before manufacturing is permitted.
> Chemicals are considered new 
> under TSCA if the are not already listed on the TSCA
> inventory.
> 
> 
> But it is unclear whether chemicals already in the
> inventory that contain 
> nanoparticles are considered new or are exempt from
> PMN requirements as 
> existing chemicals. Because the chemicals contain
> vastly different 
> properties, environmentalists -- including
> Environmental Defense -- have 
> called on EPA to clarify that such substances are
> considered new under TSCA 
> and trigger PMN notification.
> 
> 
> EPA proposed in a May 10 Federal Register notice its
> intention to obtain 
> industry nanoparticle data through a voluntary
> reporting pilot project. EPA 
> sources have said the information could help guide
> the agency on whether to 
> develop new regulations for the chemicals. Charles
> Auer, the director of 
> the agency's Office of Pollution Prevention and
> Toxics, raised the 
> possibility at the meeting of “parallel” tracks
> where an already-existing 
> agency advisory committee would address the issue of
> whether the 
> nanoparticles are “new,” while industry,
> environmentalists and other groups 
> would participate in developing a voluntary
> reporting pilot project.
> 
> 
> The joint plan by industry and environmentalists,
> which sources say was 
> developed in recent weeks, also calls for an
> increase in government 
> research on the health and environmental
> implications of nanotechnology and 
> “timely and responsible development and regulation
> of nanomaterials.”
> 
> 
> “A government program should address intentionally
> produced nanoscale 
> materials produced in or imported into the U.S. and
> characterize hazard and 
> exposure sufficiently to assess any risks of these
> materials,” the plan 
> says. “It should also assess the appropriateness of
> or need for 
> modification of existing regulatory frameworks.”
> 
> 
> Environmental Defense also distributed 
>
<http://insideepa.com/secure/data_extra/dir_05/epa2005_1102b.pdf>its
> own 
> comments at the meeting, which go beyond the joint
> plan by  outlining the 
> types of risk-related data the agency should review,
> including information 
> on the acute and chronic toxicity of nanoparticles.
> 
> Date: June 23, 2005
> 
> © Inside Washington Publishers
> 
> 
> 
>
============================================================
> Ross Vincent
> Senior Policy Advisor
> Sierra Club
> 1829 South Pueblo Boulevard, #300
> Pueblo, CO 81005-2105
> 719-561-3117
> 415-946-3442(Fax)
> [log in to unmask]
>
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