Nanotechnology Oversight
An Agenda for the New Administration

Few domestic policy areas that the new administration must address will have greater long-range consequences than nanotechnology—a new technology that has been compared with the industrial revolution in terms of its impact on society. If the right decisions are made, nanotechnology will bring vast improvements to almost every area of daily living. If the wrong decisions are made, the American economy, human health and the environment will suffer.

Nanotechnology can have a major impact on many of the most important problems facing the United States. It can reduce dependence on foreign oil, help deal with global climate change, improve the country’s health system, strengthen national defense, help fight terrorism and make a major contribution to the national economy. Nanotechnology is also important as a prototype of the technological opportunities and challenges that will characterize the 21st century. The country needs to learn how to deal with potential adverse consequences of new technologies and how to make sure the technologies best serve society’s needs.

The existing laws and institutions for dealing with nano and other technologies are weak and inadequate. The oversight system needs to be repaired. The regulatory agencies lack resources, some to the point of being nonfunctional. The laws have huge gaps and, more often than not, fail to protect the public. Nanotechnology highlights these inadequacies and provides an opportunity to act on them.

This report is a blueprint for what should be done about nanotechnology in the first few months of the new administration. It contains more than 35 recommendations. The following actions are necessary:

• Maximize the use of existing laws: Although the laws for nanotechnology oversight need to be changed, much can be done within existing authorities. Nanomaterials should be defined as “new” substances under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and the cosmetics, food additive and food packaging provisions of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), thereby enabling the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration to consider the novel qualities and effects of nanomaterials. The federal pesticide law should be enforced for nano anti-microbial products such as clothing and household appliances that use nanosilver. Existing regulations of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration should be used to protect workers from nanoparticles in the workplace.
• Increase research on the risks posed by nanomaterials: Federal spending to understand the potential risks posed by nanomaterials is inadequate. Results of the limited testing that has been done provide reason for concern: carbon nanotubes can irritate lungs in a way similar to asbestos; some nanomaterials, when tested on rats, pass from nerve endings in the nose to the brain, bypassing the blood-brain barrier; and some nanomaterials can interact with DNA. These substances could have widespread negative impacts—not only on the environment and human health but on consumer confidence as well. Risk research is essential.
• Enact changes to existing oversight laws: Laws such as TSCA and FFDCA, which cover adverse effects of nanomaterials,urgently need to be strengthened. For example, under the FFDCA, two major highexposure applications of nanotechnology, cosmetics and dietary supplements, are essentially unregulated. In fact, the current language in the law serves primarily to assure that there will not be adequate oversight. Other laws important for nano oversight, such as the Consumer Product Safety Act, also need radical revision.
• Plan for the future: Almost all the planning and debate about nanotechnology has focused on first-generation nanotechnology. The second generation of the technology is now moving from science fiction to technological fact, but society has not thought about how to deal with it or the other new technologies that are sure to follow. A commission should be named to consider oversight options for the 21st century. In addition, the government’s ability to forecast technological developments needs to be greatly improved so that government and society are better prepared to manage what lies ahead.

Nanotechnology is likely to significantly change the way we live. The new administration has the opportunity to shape these changes and to ensure that the benefits of nanotechnology are maximized and the risks are identified and controlled. This is a vitally important opportunity, and this report describes how to act on it. The future of the technology is in the hands of the incoming administration. The shape of the future will depend significantly on what the new government does.