National Academy of Sciences Conference on Nano
This post was written by David Wagner, Jesse Ash and Tony Klapper.
On May 5, 2008 a meeting was held at the National Academy of Sciences to review the National Nanotechnology Initiative's (NNI) April 2008 update on the federal strategy to address environmental, health and safety research needs for engineered nanoscale materials. The National Resource Council (charged with auditing the NNI findings) chaired the conference. Council members include Drs. Andrew Maynard and Gunther Oberdorster. Panelists included the American Chemical Council (ACC), Dupont, AFL-CIO, NRDC, the Consumer's Union, the Dept. of Energy, the Dept. of Defense, and European Union representatives. The panelists were asked to provide their viewpoint on the NNI document. In general, the NNI document outlines the steps that government should follow to assess risks.
Panel members on behalf of workers, consumers and the NRDC were skeptical about the NNI strategy, claiming it gave no specifics on how the federal government would assess risks. Panelists involved the specifics of asbestos and Bisphenol A (BPA) were often in their presentations to the Council, arguing that more needs to be done more quickly. NRDC went as far as to say it is "criminal" that the government doesn't have a plan in effect today since nano-products are already in use today. The representative from Consumer's Union pointed out there was no consumer exposure assessment data in the NNI document.
Panel members on behalf of industry (ACC and Dupont) were generally happy with the NNI update but also agreed with other panelists that more was needed now to assess risks. Dupont also outlined its Nano Risk Framework. In response to a question from the Council on what industry is doing to assess risks, Bill Gulledge with ACC explained that most of his members have product stewardship programs, treat nanomaterials as hazardous, and meet periodically to discuss nano risks.
