Building Science for Environmental Protection in the 21st Century - Science For Environmental Protection: The Road Ahead - page 100

How EPA arrived at that situation provides important information for the
design and evaluation of new and emerging technologies. EPA was actively
working with other agencies to make large investments in nanotechnology dur-
ing implementation of the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Devel-
opment Act. In particular, the agency saw the opportunity to use nanotechnology
in remediation and funded this type of research. However, it missed the oppor-
tunity to support research that addressed proactively the environmental health
and safety of nanomaterials, pollution prevention in the production of nanomate-
rials, and the use of nanotechnology to prevent pollution. In early years, the
agency focused primarily on the applications of nanomaterials and not on the
environmental and health implications. When it did begin to address implica-
tions, the agency focused its attention on defining nanomaterials and whether
they are subject to new policy structures because of size-specific hazards (an
issue that is still discussed) and on cataloging and redirecting existing research
and resources toward assessing exposure, hazard, and risk. The private sector
has been left looking for signals from the agency about how it should develop
and commercialize nanoscale products.
There were several reasons for the delay in early intervention in the case
of nanotechnology. One reason was that materials innovators were focused on
discovering new materials and promoting applications of them. Another reason
is that materials innovators often have little expertise or formal training in envi-
ronmental, health, and safety issues. Some of these innovators assumed that
nothing about nanomaterials presented new challenges for environmental health
and safety and that these were secondary matters to be considered only after
commercial products are developed. A third reason was that there was insuffi-
cient federal agency leadership, emphasis, and policy regarding proactive rather
than reactive approaches to safer design. Even with increasing knowledge about
the design of environmentally benign engineered nanomaterials, progress toward
incorporating greater consideration of health and safety in nanomaterial design
has been limited for a variety of reasons, including the lack of design rules or
other guidance for designers in developing safer technologies, the lack of exper-
tise in solutions-oriented research in EPA, and the lack of collaboration between
material innovators and toxicologists and environmental scientists.
The case of engineered nanomaterials indicates the need for EPA to estab-
lish more coherent technology-assessment structures to identify early warnings
of potential problems associated with a wide range of emerging technologies. If
EPA is going to play a major role in promoting and guiding early intervention in
the design and production of emerging chemicals (through green chemistry),
materials, and products, it will need to commit to this effort beyond its regula-
tory role.
Many new chemicals and technologies hold considerable potential to im-
prove environmental quality, and it may prove useful for EPA to take some spe-
cific steps to anticipate and manage new technologies that emerge from the pri-
vate sector. Some of these specific steps can be done in collaboration with other
agencies, industries, and research organizations when possible. They include: