The report, “Securing the Promise of Nanotechnologies: Towards Transatlantic Regulatory Cooperation” by the London School of Economics and Political Science, the Environmental Law Institute, Chatham House and the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, provides the first systematic comparison of US and EU approaches to oversight of environmental, health and safety risks of nanomaterials.
It calls on US and EU governments to:
step up international efforts to create the scientific foundations for assessing the potential risks of nanotechnologies;
provide significantly increased funding for research into environment and health ad safety risks and promote international coordination of research strategies; and
create new mandatory reporting requirements in order for regulators to obtain comprehensive information about the commercial use of nanomaterials.
Nanotechnology will have wide-ranging application in sectors ranging from computing to medicines, food, cosmetics and energy storage, with global revenues from nanotechnologies are set to reach $2.5 trillion by 2015, according to Lux Research. As much as 4 per cent of total manufacturing and materials sector output may incorporate nanotechnologies, and 16 per cent of manufactured goods in healthcare and life sciences and 50 per cent in electronics and IT may be nano-enabled by that time.
An estimated 1,000 nano-enabled products from 24 different countries are already available to consumers. Yet scientific uncertainty persists on the question of how nanomaterials might affect the environment and human health, and industry and regulators concede they do not have comprehensive information about what types of nanomaterials are being used and what products contain them.
David Rejeski, director of the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, said, “The US and EU need to strengthen international regulatory cooperation if the commercial promises of nanotechnologies are to be fulfilled.”
Robert Falkner, senior lecturer in international relations at the London School of Economics and coordinator of the project, said, “Voluntary reporting initiatives in the UK and US have failed to fill existing knowledge gaps on the commercial use of nanomaterials. It is therefore time to introduce a mandatory market register, to create market transparency about the use of nanomaterials in consumer products.”
The report also calls for transatlantic coordination on risk management as more and more nanomaterials enter global supply chains. Differences in US and EU management approaches could complicate the free flow of goods across national boundaries. There is a need also to explore the implications of different consumer labelling requirements for nanomaterials.
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