The Foresight and Governance Project of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars recently published a report entitled Nanotechnology & Regulation: A Case Study Using the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA). The report reviews how TSCA, as administered by the EPA, would apply to nanotechnology and whether the act has been applied to nano-based materials: if so, to what effect, and if not, why? The report includes four overarching conclusions:

• The very nature of nanotechnology - its ability to alter the fundamental properties of substances - is likely to challenge the existing regulatory structure and cause confusion both on the side of industry and the government concerning the role of regulation.
• To date, very few people or organizations have addressed the adequacy of our current regulatory system to protect human health and the environment or thought about possible alternatives to existing regulatory regimes (beyond extreme positions such as complete bans on nanotechnology).
• A lack of adequate and conclusive research on the health risks of nano-based substances makes the need for a dialogue on regulatory adequacy, inadequacy, or possible alternatives more urgent.

A wrong or ill-conceived approach to regulation could have enormous economic consequences given the revolutionary nature and potential of nanotechnology.

The report included several references to an article entitled TSCA and the Future of Chemical Regulation by Lisa M. Campbell, Lisa R. Burchi, and Pollution Engineering columnist Lynn L. Bergeson, which was published in the EPA Administrative Law Reporter in 2000. The report is available at