Future Considerations for Nanotechnology and the Environment: Informing Policy and Regulatory Decisions

1. Future Considerations for Nanotechnology and the Environment: Informing Policy and Regulatory Decisions Jeff Morris National Program Director for Nanotechnology Presentation to the ECOS Cross-Media Committee 24 March 2010

2. Presentation Overview Why nanotechnology? Why it’s an environmental issue and what we presently do/don’t know. Who’s doing what? Federal role, within a larger international context. What is EPA doing? Current/future research focus. How can we do better? Opportunities for enhanced partnerships.

3. What Is Important About Nanotechnology and the Environment? Nano-scale materials show promise for improving the environment. However, we have relatively little understanding of whether nanomaterials’ unique properties may present health or ecological risks.

4. Where We Are With Nano and the Environment Very little is known about nanomaterials’ toxicity and exposure: we are just starting to develop methods to test them. A few early studies suggest toxicity for specific nanomaterials. However, toxicity does not equal risk, and we don’t yet know if those studies represent real exposure potential. Nevertheless, it is important to be proactive in considering early information: it is better to avoid impacts than to react to them later. We are off to a good start with collaborations on the science: we need to maintain and build on these relationships – in particular with the states.

5. NNI Organizational Structure *Executive Order 13326 designates PCAST as the NNAP

6. Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) Budget **figures for FY 2009 are estimated and FY 2010 are requested

7. Prioritization of Environmental, Health, and Safety Research Needs for Engineered Nanoscale Materials NNI EHS Research Documents 2006 2007 2008

8. EPA view of the federal context for EHS-related information

9. Context for Decision-Support Data Generation: An EPA-centric view Other Federal, State and Local Entities “Bi-lateral” NEHI EPA OECD Testing Program Academic Research Industry-sponsored Testing Health and Environmental Decisions

10. The key questions we’re asking for developing regulatory science data. Are they the right questions? Which nanomaterials, in what forms, are most likely to result in environmental exposure? Are nanomaterials with these properties likely to be present in environmental media or biological systems at concentrations of concern, and what does this mean for dose-response and risk? If yes, how can we mitigate hazard and/or exposure? i.e., make safe products. What particular nanomaterial properties may raise hazard concerns?

11. How EPA is allocating resources to answer these questions. Is this the right future allocation? 50% Sources, Fate, Transport, and Exposure 30% Human Health and Ecological Effects 10% Risk Assessment Methods and Case Studies 10% Preventing and Mitigating Risks Challenges: Potential Release and Exposure: How much of what materials are/will be produced for what uses? Properties: What properties make a material toxic, mobile, persistent, and bioavailable?

12. EPA’s Research Goal is Sustainable Nanotechnology Identify what properties of specific materials may cause them to be hazardous and/or mobile, persistent, or bioavailable. (e.g., nano-cerium fuel additives) Develop lifecycle assessment methodologies to understand inputs and releases from the development, use, and disposal / recycling of nanomaterials. (e.g., lifecycle assessment of nano-enabled, lithium-ion batteries) Use green chemistry approaches to use benign inputs to produce nano-scale particles with low inherent toxicity. (e.g., using tea and coffee extracts as starting materials)

13. Achieving Sustainable Nanotechnology:Top 3 Future EPA R&D Needs Predictive Tools that enable nanoparticle “binning” with respect to the particle’s potential for exposure and biological activity. Useful, and useable, life cycle-based approaches that allow decision makers to view a product system from cradle to grave, in focused areas such as energy used to produce the nanomaterial and the nanoparticle’s emissions/release potential. More robust, and more meaningful, decision-analysis tools that accommodate broad perspectives on risks and benefits.

14. Priority Needs (beyond EPA, beyond R&D) to Better Inform Policy Decisions Green chemistry and life cycle-focused research that advances sustainable nanotechnology. New thinking on how scientific information can best be developed and applied to foster technologies that consider well-being in the broadest sense. Better collaborations within and across all sectors: government (including state and local), industry, and academia. Here is where we have great opportunities, with ECOS and others, to enhance information flows in all directions.

15. Partnerships are Key to Generating Necessary Data and Making Smart Policy Decisions Industry.Companies know their products, processes, and markets. Without compromising confidentiality and competitiveness, more material-, product-, and market-specific information is needed. Academic Grants.Society sanctions nano EHS research because it wants safe nanotechnology products and processes—all grantees receiving federal EHS funding should be focused on this goal. International.Governments are collaborating bilaterally and through the OECD; opportunities remain for greater academic and industry involvement. States. Where products are made; where people use them.

16. Two Final Considerations We need to be smart about the development and deployment of new technologies: Use green chemistry and other approaches to build safety and environmental protection into nanotechnology Develop approaches for up-front evaluation of potential impacts throughout product life cycles. Recognize that sustainability includes consideration of the inputs and emissions from making the material, not just the impacts of its use. 2. And remember that the choices we make determine whether and how new technologies emerge and develop—nothing is a predetermined given. How can methods and data inform such choices?