CTA Comments at EPA Meeting to Review Nanotechnology White Paper

April 20, 2006

CTA submitted written comments on the White Paper with several other groups in January 2006. These comments supplement and expand that earlier statement.  The EPA panel’s charge includes the question of what issues were not adequately addressed in the White Paper. CTA believes one overarching issue stands out in its absence: While the scientific summary of the White Paper is perhaps commendable, the Paper fails to deliver much-needed nanotechnology policy and regulatory recommendations, in the short or long term.  Nanotechnology has the potential for various environmental and human health improvements. Adequate regulation and oversight are needed to safeguard against these unique and varied harms.

Given the urgent need for agency oversight of nanomaterials, and EPA’s placement as possibly the “lead” agency in nanotechnology oversight, the White Paper falls woefully short in its discussion of this crucial issue. CTA requests EPA revise its White Paper to analyze the heretofore unaddressed or inadequately addressed aspects of its policy and regulatory recommendations.