EPA Engages in Nanopolicy Dialogue with Focus on Green Nanotech

  Dawn Willow, J.D. and James Cerami

Environmental engineers, geologists, and toxicologists in government, academia, and business gathered in Chicago on September 6-7 at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 5 Nanotechnology for Site Remediation Workshop. The two-day workshop presented a policy and implementation roadmap for nanotechnology and nanoscale science and innovation, focused on having a net positive impact on the environment. This EPA initiative bodes well for the development of environmental nanopolicy formation and implementation, as it demonstrates the agency's interest in proactively addressing NELSI (nano's ethical, legal and social implications). This workshop constitutes part of a broader "green nanotechnology" framework through which the EPA hopes will create a community that promotes, understands, and utilizes nanotechnology for the benefit of society and the environment. This two-prong framework is composed of eco-efficient nanoproduction and environmental remediation nanoapplications.

The first day of the workshop was primarily dedicated to technical solutions for environmental remediation. Dr. Wei-xian Zhang, professor of chemistry and environmental engineering at Lehigh University, provided the workshop's first substantive presentation with an introduction to nanotechnology applications for environmental projects. Some of the applicable nanomaterials he discussed included nanopores, nanotubes, quantum dots, nanoshells, and dendrimers. He went on to explain how utilizing nanostructures, nanodevices, and nanosystems, such as nanoreactors and nanosorbents, can lead to cost savings, greater material utilization efficiency, and less toxicity in site remediation. Dr. Zhang and other presenters highlighted the pilot application of nanoscale zero valent iron (NZV(Fe)) in removing contaminants from soil. This promising technology illustrates the second-prong of the EPA's green nanotech framework, focused on nano-enabled environmental remediation.

The second day of the workshop framed these technical solutions within a NELSI rubric. Dr. Barbara Karn, an EPA manager, began by providing an overview of nanopolicy issues at hand, including standards development, international governance activities, and public perception. She then went on to present a life-cycle analysis for both nanoproducts and nanoproduction processes. Dr. Karn emphasized a systems approach to environmental protection whereby nanotechnology would play a key role in sustainable manufacturing and development. She stressed the need for product stewardship in which manufacturers take responsibility for their products and integrate environmental considerations into their manufacturing processes. In closing, Dr. Karn urged participants to become involved in developing nanopolicy that fosters the socially responsible development and implementation of the nascent technology.

Aatish Salvi, vice president of the Nano Business Alliance, cautioned against the creation of nano-specific regulation until there is sufficient understanding of nanotoxicity and until recognized definitions, classifications, and standards for nanotechnology and nanomaterials have been developed. In focusing on the need to consider both sides of the risk equation, Salvi argued that premature legislation would hinder the domestic development of nanotechnology and decrease the flow of beneficial nanoapplications into the marketplace.

Audience members engaged Salvi in debate, challenging his call for delayed regulation. They pointed to the fact that, if scientists already have enough information to begin assessing the risks posed by nanotechnology, then legislators and regulators must also have sufficient information from which to begin regulating the technology. From this debate, emerged a middle-ground solution to craft regulatory language that protects the public and the environment without being overly restrictive, and then having the ability to amend such regulation with more specific and tailored provisions as developments unfold.

Dr. Martin Philbert, toxicologist and senior associate dean at the University of Michigan, closed the workshop by pointing out that simply because a particle exists on the nanoscale does not make it de facto toxic and that nanotechnology's novelty in and of itself does not mean that it is inherently unsafe. He noted that it is critical to create robust biological models and tools based on meaningful toxicity data to evaluate nano-related health and environmental risks.

Not only did this EPA workshop demonstrate interest in nanopolicy creation with an eye toward NELSI, but it also started the process of posing real solutions.

Dawn M. Willow, J.D., is a legal fellow at the Institute on Biotechnology and the Human Future and the Center on Nanotechnology and Society at Chicago-Kent College of Law/Illinois Institute of Technology

James Cerami is a Research Assistant with the Center on Nanotechnology and Society and the Institute on Biotechnology and the Human Future at Chicago-Kent College of Law/Illinois Institute of Technology. James has a bachelor's of science in integrative biology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and is currently pursuing a J.D. at Chicago-Kent College of Law.