306
11.9 Nanowaste: Guidelines/Regulatory Measures
While the exponential growth of nanotechnology offers many benefits, they also
contribute in generating wastes. Many of the nanomaterials-based manufacturing
and products are discharged into the environment as a result of their disposal in
waste streams (Moore 2007; Powell et al. 2008). Currently, industrial data on handling of discarded nanomaterials and their end-of-life scenarios remain elusive. At
present, there is no centralized policy explicitly to tackle the ecotoxicity and safety
inference of nanotechnology. There are no national or global safety guidelines or
regulatory measures on manufacturing and characterization for nanomaterials at
workplace. At the moment, regulatory government bodies in the USA (i.e., EPA,
FDA, NIOSH) and in European Union (i.e., OECD, ECHA) have drafted strong
technical guidelines and legislations to control the potential risks of ENPs.
Considering the lack of the current risk assessment model and regulatory frameworks, the Woodrow Wilson International Center Project on Emerging
Nanotechnologies (PEN) have highlighted the end-of-life directive of nanotechnologies (Breggin and Pendergrass 2007). However, much like usual chemical substances, research, and development with ENPs must be accomplished with great
safety and responsibility. All federal, state, and local requirements must be dealt
with while handling, transporting, storing, using or disposing chemicals, including
nanomaterials.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) stress on employers to sustain a secure and healthy working environment, “free from recognized
hazards likely to cause death or serious physical harm”. As per OSHA guidelines,
training and orientation programs on material safety data sheets and labeling and
signage must be performed to educate the laboratory personnel so as to make them
aware of the risks associated with workplace hazards. The transportation, treatment,
disposal, and cleanup of hazardous waste come under the purview of The Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA). Nanomaterials that have potential
to be treated as a “hazardous waste” in RCRA are subject to this rule. Nanomaterials
that are “chemical substances” under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and
which are not on the TSCA Inventory must be reported to the US Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA). The usual practice is that a chemical substance that is not
on the TSCA Inventory of Chemical Substances must be manufactured or imported
with a prior “Premanufacture Notice” submitted to the EPA.
In case of all commercially available new pesticide products, the US EPA
approval is necessary as per the ‘Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide
Act’ before registration along with subsequent evaluation, product composition and
characterization, proper labeling mentioning proposed use of the material and data
of extensive health and safety testing need to be submitted to US EPA. Furthermore,
the US Food and Drug Administration also presently regulate an extensive array of
nanotechnology or nanomaterials-enabled products (e.g., a nanomaterial for biomedical use).
D. Kundu et al.
11.9 Nanowaste: Guidelines/Regulatory Measures
While the exponential growth of nanotechnology offers many benefits, they also
contribute in generating wastes. Many of the nanomaterials-based manufacturing
and products are discharged into the environment as a result of their disposal in
waste streams (Moore 2007; Powell et al. 2008). Currently, industrial data on handling of discarded nanomaterials and their end-of-life scenarios remain elusive. At
present, there is no centralized policy explicitly to tackle the ecotoxicity and safety
inference of nanotechnology. There are no national or global safety guidelines or
regulatory measures on manufacturing and characterization for nanomaterials at
workplace. At the moment, regulatory government bodies in the USA (i.e., EPA,
FDA, NIOSH) and in European Union (i.e., OECD, ECHA) have drafted strong
technical guidelines and legislations to control the potential risks of ENPs.
Considering the lack of the current risk assessment model and regulatory frameworks, the Woodrow Wilson International Center Project on Emerging
Nanotechnologies (PEN) have highlighted the end-of-life directive of nanotechnologies (Breggin and Pendergrass 2007). However, much like usual chemical substances, research, and development with ENPs must be accomplished with great
safety and responsibility. All federal, state, and local requirements must be dealt
with while handling, transporting, storing, using or disposing chemicals, including
nanomaterials.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) stress on employers to sustain a secure and healthy working environment, “free from recognized
hazards likely to cause death or serious physical harm”. As per OSHA guidelines,
training and orientation programs on material safety data sheets and labeling and
signage must be performed to educate the laboratory personnel so as to make them
aware of the risks associated with workplace hazards. The transportation, treatment,
disposal, and cleanup of hazardous waste come under the purview of The Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA). Nanomaterials that have potential
to be treated as a “hazardous waste” in RCRA are subject to this rule. Nanomaterials
that are “chemical substances” under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and
which are not on the TSCA Inventory must be reported to the US Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA). The usual practice is that a chemical substance that is not
on the TSCA Inventory of Chemical Substances must be manufactured or imported
with a prior “Premanufacture Notice” submitted to the EPA.
In case of all commercially available new pesticide products, the US EPA
approval is necessary as per the ‘Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide
Act’ before registration along with subsequent evaluation, product composition and
characterization, proper labeling mentioning proposed use of the material and data
of extensive health and safety testing need to be submitted to US EPA. Furthermore,
the US Food and Drug Administration also presently regulate an extensive array of
nanotechnology or nanomaterials-enabled products (e.g., a nanomaterial for biomedical use).
D. Kundu et al.