Posted by Jonathan Adler:
Regulating Nanosilver:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2006_11_19-2006_11_25.shtml#1164296573
The Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to regulate
nanotechnology under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and
Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) for the first time. Specifically, the
Washington Post [1]reports, the EPA will adopt new regulations on the
use nanoparticles of silver as germ-killing agents.
The decision -- which will affect the marketing of high-tech
odor-destroying shoe liners, food-storage containers, air
fresheners, washing machines and a wide range of other products
that contain tiny bacteria-killing particles of silver -- marks a
significant reversal in federal policy. It also creates an
unexpected regulatory hurdle for the burgeoning field of
nanotechnology, which involves the creation of materials just a few
ten-thousandths the diameter of a human hair.
Given the nature of FIFRA, the EPA will only regulate products
containing "nanosilver" if the manufacturer makes germ-killing claims.
Under the new determination, first reported on Tuesday by the Daily
Environment Report, a Washington publication, and confirmed
yesterday by the EPA, any company wishing to sell a product that it
claims will kill germs by the release of nanotech silver or related
technology will first have to provide scientific evidence that the
product does not pose an environmental risk. . . .
[The EPA's] Jones said the final rules will be spelled out in the
Federal Register sometime in the next few months. He acknowledged,
however, that the EPA oversight will apply only to products
advertised as germ-killing -- a detail that at least one major
retailer has apparently noted.
The Sharper Image, which until recently advertised as
anti-microbial several products containing nanosilver, has dropped
all such references from its marketing materials.
In such cases, Jones said, the EPA will not act. "Unless you're
making a claim to kill a pest, you're not a pesticide," he said.
References
1.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/22/AR2006112201979.html
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