Nanotechnology-Related Environment, Health, and Safety Research: Examining the National Strategy

Pick up a tube of sunscreen, a tennis racquet, an iPod, or any number of other consumer products, and there’s a good chance that it’s been “nano-enabled,” meaning it contains nanoscale particles designed to give it some beneficial feature. An estimated $147 billion worth of nano-enabled commercial and consumer products were sold in 2007, according to Lux Research, a market analysis firm in New York City. Citing the firm’s latest estimates, Lux analyst David Hwang predicts that figure could top $3.1 trillion by 2015, reinforcing a broad view that nanotechnology is fueling a new industrial revolution. Yet nanotechnology’s spread through the market has been met with mounting concerns over the potential human health effects of these miraculous materials. Because of their small size—100 nano-meters or less—nanomaterials have unique physical properties that can influence their uptake, distribution, and behavior in the body. Indeed, some nano-particles have been shown to penetrate into cells, where they can trigger inflammatory responses and oxidative stress. Canada and California recently took the unprecedented step of imposing mandated disclosure requirements on nanomaterial use and toxicity assessment. Issued 29 January 2009, Canada’s law targets domestic companies and institutions that manufacture or buy more than 1 kilogram of nanomaterial per year. According to the new regulations, these entities must now reveal how much nanomaterial they use, how they use it, and what they know about its toxicity. California’s law, issued 2 February 2009, limits its scope to carbon nanotubes, a class of nanomaterial used in electronics, optics, and biomedical applications. Under the new regulation, by February 2010 companies that manufacture, import, or export carbon nanotubes in California must disclose information about the toxicity and environmental impacts of their products. Meanwhile, experts in nanotoxicology and risk assessment have become increasingly polarized, represented on one side by the National Research Council (NRC) and on the other by the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), a government-wide collaboration coordinated by the National Science and Technology Council in the Executive Office of the President. In February 2008, the Nanotechnology Environmental and Health Implications (NEHI) Working Group of the NNI released a document titled Strategy for Nanotechnology-Related Environmental, Health, and Safety Research. This document is meant to present the U.S. government’s agenda for studying nano-particle hazards, and describes 246 related projects that were ongoing in 2006, representing a combined investment for that year of $68 million. The document also purports to “address prioritized research areas . and to advance knowledge and support risk decision-making—both of which are essential for the responsible development of nanotechnology. ” Clayton Teague directs the National Nano-technology Coordination Office, which was responsible for drafting the federal strategy. He says the strategy was developed in extensive consultation with regulatory agencies, research organizations, the business community, and nongovernmental organizations. “We believe the strategy represents needs and agreements about what the agencies plan to do,” he says. “Funding agencies are telling us that they’re using the document to formulate solicitations for future research in this area. ” But on 25 February 2009, a panel assembled by the NRC issued its own report, describing what it calls serious shortcomings in the strategy document. According to the NRC panel, which was assembled at the request of the NNI, the strategy exposes weaknesses in the government’s understanding of potential nanotechnology risks today and does not adequately address how they will be assessed in the future. NRC panel member Mark Weisner, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Duke University, claims that many of the research programs described in the NNI’s document don’t actually address environmental, health, and safety (EHS) concerns. “If you take this portfolio at face value, it overstates the true level of effort in federally financed [nano-technology-related] EHS research,” he says.