Study: EPA must look at nanotech oversight

WASHINGTON, July 26 (UPI) -- An independent report has urged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to make key decisions concerning oversight of nanotechnologies.

The report was commissioned by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and The Pew Charitable Trusts. Written by Linda Breggin and John Pendergrass of the Environmental Law Institute, it concludes the EPA must apply so-called end-of-life statutes to nanotechnology waste in order to ensure adequate oversight.

In addition, the experts said companies manufacturing nanomaterials, as well as their investors and insurers, should consider the new kinds of liabilities and environmental risks that might emerge as a result of the release and disposal of waste nanomaterials into the environment.

The report follows a U.S. Food and Drug Administration report also released this week that recommended the development of rules to address benefits and risks inherent in drugs and medical devices using nanotechnology.

More than $30 billion in products incorporating nanotechnology were sold globally in 2005 and the consulting firm Lux Research estimates that by 2014 that figure will grow to nearly $3 trillion.

The independent report -- "Where Does the Nano Go" -- is available online at: www.nanotechproject.org/132.