EPA Nanotechnology Voluntary Program Risks Becoming a Black Hole
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Sharyn Stein, 202-572-3396, sstein@edf.org
Richard Denison, 202-387-3500, rdenison@edf.org
(Washington, DC – July 28, 2008) Six months after launching its voluntary reporting program for nanomaterial producers, EPA has made virtually no information public about the limited number of submissions it has received. As a result, the public can have little confidence that the program is providing the information the Agency will need to protect citizens, consumers, workers and the environment from the potential risks of nanotechnology, according to Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)
The EPA intended its Nanoscale Materials Stewardship Program (NMSP) to provide both EPA and the public with a better understanding of what nanomaterials are being produced, how they’re being used and what their producers know about them.
- A number of the submissions received to date provide data only for a single nanomaterial, despite the strong likelihood that most or all submitting companies are engaged with multiple nanomaterials;
- EPA’s website notes that the submissions cover 68 nanoscale materials, but does not indicate how many were submitted by each company — a single company apparently accounts for the vast majority of these materials, all of them metal-based;
- An unknown number of the submissions have been claimed by the submitter to be confidential business information (CBI), including in one case the identity of the company itself;
- EPA has no immediate plans to make public even the non-CBI submissions it receives.
- What nanomaterials the submissions cover;
- The extent of information provided for each nanomaterial;
- Whether each submitter provided all or only part of the requested information it possesses on its volunteered nanomaterial;
- Whether any health and safety studies were provided (which are ineligible to be claimed as CBI under the Toxic Substances Control Act);
- Whether those claiming their submissions as CBI did so for all or part of their submissions;
- Whether EPA has reviewed or plans to review CBI claims to verify their legitimacy.
One of the world’s leading international nonprofit organizations, Environmental Defense Fund (edf.org) creates transformational solutions to the most serious environmental problems. To do so, EDF links science, economics, law, and innovative private-sector partnerships. With more than 3 million members and offices in the United States, China, Mexico, Indonesia and the European Union, EDF’s scientists, economists, attorneys and policy experts are working in 28 countries to turn our solutions into action. Connect with us on Twitter @EnvDefenseFund
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