EPA to Enforce Premanufacture Reviews for Carbon Nanotubes Beginning March
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to begin enforcing a requirement that directs companies to file premanufacture notices if they manufacture or import carbon nanotubes. Carbon nanotubes are generally considered to be new chemicals subject to such notices.
The EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance will examine, starting as early as March 1st, whether carbon nanotube manufacturers and importers have filed their premanufacture notice requirements.
Lynn Bergeson, an attorney with the firm Bergeson & Campbell, P.C., speaking at the 2nd Annual Conference on Nanotechnology Law, Regulation, and Policy, this week said "[C]arbon nanotube producers should know this," going on to say that EPA considers most carbon nanotubes to be "chemical substances distinct from graphite or other allotropes of carbon listed on the [Toxic Substances Control Act] Inventory." Jessica Barkas, an attorney with EPA's Chemical Control Division said the EPA is putting conditions, such as development of toxicity data, requiring carbon nanotubes to be embedded in a polymer or metal structure, and requiring workers to use protective equipment, on firms that want to make new nano-scale chemicals. The agency is also considering issuing a data call-in for basic production volume and exposure data for nanomaterials.
According to Barkas, the EPA will eventually shift from its "...current focus of collecting information to a focus of controlling risks."
Source: The Bureau of National Affairs' Daily Environment Report
Author: Pat Rizzuto