Nano-enhanced environmental remediation: A framework to understand information needs' for safety and health oversight of nanomaterials at the state level

There has been an unprecedented development and use of nanomaterials in various applications in recent years. Successful case studies of nano-enhanced environmental remediation are documented. Although this is good news, there is fear that lack of relevant ecological, health and safety risks and other uncertainties of handling nanomaterials throughout their life cycle may limit the ability of regulatory agencies and programs to perform their safety and health oversight functions.

This paper argues that state government agencies and programs will play a greater role in the future in ensuring that the development and deployment of nanotechnology in various consumer products, and for other applications such as environmental remediation, do not significantly affect the health and safety of workers or general public. Since there is an obvious discrepancy between rapid development of nanotechnology and the generation of information pertaining to safety and health of nanomaterials, an effective and sustainable regulatory framework for collecting, collating and organizing any available and relevant information in a way that makes it accessible and useable in a timely manner is urgently needed.

Presented here is a framework to understand information and scientific needs at the state level to support occupational and non-occupational safety and health oversight of nanomaterials during environmental remediation. Also preliminary findings from a survey of various state agencies and programs are discussed