William Ruckelshaus and J. Clarence Davies: An EPA for the 21st century

[Eugene]

Source: Boston Globe

WILLIAM RUCKELSHAUS AND J. CLARENCE DAVIES

An EPA for the 21st century

By William Ruckelshaus and J. Clarence Davies
| July 7, 2007

TODAY'S smallest of materials pose a big opportunity and a
huge challenge for the Environmental Protection Agency.
Nanotechnology is the technology of the very small -- the
manipulation of things at the level of individual atoms and
molecules, the use of materials that are 1/80,000 th the width
of a human hair.

Meeting the oversight challenges of nanotechnology, estimated
to represent $2.6 trillion in manufactured goods globally by
2014, requires that the EPA bring itself into the 21st century.

The agency needs to make this leap now -- with the same
sense of urgency top Democratic and Republican leaders of
Congress's House Science Committee called for last year when
they said that the administration was moving too slowly on a
research agenda to understand the environmental, health, and
safety implications of nanotechnology.

-snip-

The first generation of nanotechnology products is rapidly
coming to market. The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies
website lists almost 500 nano consumer products now being
sold. This summer you may be lathering up with a nano-
based sunscreen or wearing stain and wrinkle resistant
pants that have nanomaterials woven into the fabric.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/07/07/an_epa_for_the_21st_century