EPA proposes nanotech policy

EPA has proposed a voluntary stewardship program for engineered nanoscale materials and a policy on regulating those materials under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The stewardship program is designed to collect information from manufacturers on the use of nanomaterials; encourage good risk management practices; and develop toxicity data for future environmental, health, and safety studies. Voluntary participants in the program will be asked to provide data on the production of nanoscale materials, including chemical properties of the materials and any exposure or monitoring data. These data would be submitted under TSCA, the law regulating new chemicals in commerce. EPA says it will not treat nanoscale compounds any differently under TSCA because of their size or properties. It will hold to a strict interpretation of TSCA and will regulate nanomaterials as "new" under the law only if they are truly new chemical entities. This interpretation has upset some nanotechnology experts who believe that all nanoscale materials should be regulated as new substances because of their unique properties.