The federal law that regulates new and existing chemical substances, including engineered nanoscale chemical substances, is the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). While there is much debate over how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should deploy its significant TSCA authority to address potential risks to human health and the environment posed by engineered nanoscale materials, there is no doubt that EPA is already doing so. This article provides a general overview of TSCA as...
March 1, 2007
Lynn L. Bergeson, panel expert, “Emerging Environmental Risk: A Global View,” Risk Talk: Environmental Risk, Vol. 1, Issue 2.
This edition of Risk Talk focuses on emerging environmental risks from a global perspective. From local pollution problems to global warming, companies face a wide variety of environmental risks. The increasingly global economy requires that companies adopt a comprehensive environmental risk management strategy. Properly executed, such a strategy can give a company a competitive advantage. ...
Over the past several months, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has made significant progress advancing its Nanoscale Materials Stewardship Program (NMSP). ...
October 1, 2006
Lynn L. Bergeson, “ABA SEER’S Review of Existing Laws and Nanotechnology,” Gradient Corporation EH&S Nano News, October 2006.
The American Bar Association (ABA) Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources (SEER) offered to brief representatives of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of General Counsel on legal and regulatory issues arising in connection with the application of existing statutory and regulatory authorities to engineered nanoscale materials. SEER prepared briefing documents on each statute, and a separate briefing document on innovative governance mechanisms. Each document...
This “Washington Watch” column outlines the concept of environmental accountability, provides a summary overview of the many mechanisms that are included within this broad topic, and discusses the role that environmental accountability plays in influencing corporate business standards pertinent to environmental performance. As government resources earmarked for more traditional environmental enforcement and compliance-assistance initiatives continue to dwindle, environmental...
Many people regard nanotechnology as a “stand-alone” technology. While the technology itself is of great interest, the most intriguing aspect of nanotechnology is that it is increasingly being utilised as an integral part of a more complicated convergence matrix. The intersection of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive science, otherwise referred to as ‘NBIC convergence’, is leading to the development of nanobiotechnology products that promise to...
. In the past year, there has been an appreciable upswing in new products developed and commercialized pertinent to “intelligent” water monitoring tools and devices involving nanotechnology. Because many environmental applications of nanotechnology will almost certainly revolutionize the science, law, and regulation of water pollution, readers are urged to keep abreast of this fast-changing area....
This column explores applications of nanotechnologies in the agricultural sector, and a few of the issues the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) is now considering regarding nanotechnologies and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). ...
With the mid-term elections fast approaching, the Bush Administration is probably feeling a bit unsettled about its ability to defend its record on environmental accomplishments. The Bush Administration’s record on environmental accomplishments is, according to most environmental groups, weak if not downright bad. This column identifies several key environmental issues that may elicit potential voter response. ...