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The London School of Economics (LSE), Chatham House, the Environmental Law Institute (ELI), and the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN) at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars held a conference on September 10-11, 2009, on “Transatlantic Regulatory Cooperation: Securing the Promise of Nanotechnologies,” in London. LSE, Chatham House, ELI, and PEN are participating in an international collaborative project, Regulating Nanotechnologies in the EU and U.S.,...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced the Interagency Nanotechnology Implications Grantees Workshop, which will feature presentations on recent research by EPA, the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIH/NIEHS), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and Department of Energy (DOE) grant researchers.  According to EPA, the November 9-10, 2009, meeting “will...

Today’s Federal Register includes a notice from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) withdrawing the June 24, 2009, final significant new use rules (SNUR) for multi- and single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNT). EPA states that it published the final SNURs using direct final rulemaking procedures. Because EPA received a notice of intent to submit adverse comments on the rules, it is withdrawing the SNURs for CNTs. The Federal Register notice does not identify the...

In a notice in the August 4, 2009, Federal Register, the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Interagency Testing Committee (ITC) released its latest report to the Administrator. Under TSCA Section 4(e), the ITC is required ‘‘to make recommendations to the Administrator respecting the chemical substances and mixtures to which the Administrator should give priority consideration for the promulgation of rules for testing.” According to the report, “the ITC has no...

On July 28, 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) clarified its June 24, 2009, final Significant New Use Rules (SNUR) for multi- and single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNT).  According to EPA, upon review of the final rule, stakeholders asked whether the SNURs applied to all types of CNTs.  EPA responded: This is not the case.  These SNURs only apply to the specific carbon nanotubes that were the subject of the premanufacture notices (PMN)...

According to a notice in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) May 11, 2009, Regulatory Agenda, a Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Section 4(a) test rule “may be needed to determine the health effects” of multiwall carbon nanotubes (CNT). EPA states that the results of the tests that could be required under the rule could assist in understanding the health effects of the substance to manage/minimize any potential risk and exposure. Results could also help with...

On April 28, 2009, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN) released a report entitled Oversight of Next Generation Nanotechnology, which calls for the creation of the Department of Environmental and Consumer Protection, which would oversee product regulation, pollution control and monitoring, and technology assessment. According to report author J. Clarence Davies, Ph.D., the agency would be primarily a scientific agency with a strong...

On March 31, 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the funding opportunity for its joint U.S. — United Kingdom (UK) Research Program: Environmental Behavior, Bioavailability, and Effects of Manufactured Nanomaterials. EPA states that the outputs of the Program will be used to further scientific understanding of the fate, behavior, bioavailability, and effects of nanomaterials and risk management policy development. Two consortia, made up of UK and U.S. research...

On March 19, 2009, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (CDTSC) will hold a full-day nanotechnology symposium on nanomaterials regulation from a variety of perspectives. According to CDTSC, the symposium will focus on the regulatory aspects of nanotechnology, the role of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and CDTSC’s chemical information call-in program including nanoscale materials. CDTSC states that federal interest in...

On January 12, 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) releasedits interim report on the Nanoscale Materials Stewardship Program (NMSP), which is avoluntary program that EPA established to assemble existing data and information frommanufacturers and processors of certain nanoscale materials. Under the Basic Program, EPAinvited participants to voluntarily report available information on the engineered nanoscalematerials they manufacture, import, process, or use. As of...