Nanotechnology White Paper - US Environmental Protection Agency

88 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper
Research into the human health effects assessment of intentionally produced
nanomaterials will be extremely challenging and the ability to interact with other federal,
international, academic, and private activities in this area would be most beneficial. A number of
organizations are engaged in health effects research. Collaboration with NASA, NIOSH, FDA,
NCI, NTP, DOD/MURI, NIST, NEHI, DOE, the European Union, EPA grantees, academic
institutions, and others will leverage resources in gaining knowledge on the potential health
effects of nanomaterials.
6.2.6 Ecological Exposure and Effects
It is critical that research be focused specifically upon the fate, and subsequent exposure
and effects, of nanomaterials on invertebrates, fish, and wildlife associated with ecosystems.
What is the behavior of nano materials in aquatic and terrestrial environments? How can
environmental exposures be simulated in the laboratory? What are the acute and chronic toxic
effects? There is a need for development and validation of analytical methodologies for
measuring nanoscale substances (both parent materials and metabolites/complexes) in
environmental matrices, including tissues of organisms. In terms of toxicity, a critical challenge
in the area of ecosystem effects lies in determining the impacts of materials whose cumulative
toxicity is likely to be a manifestation of both physical and chemical interactions with biological
systems. The following is a prioritized list of ecological research needs:
Test Methods
• ORD should collaborate with other EPA offices in research on the applicability of current
testing schemes and methods (organisms, endpoints, exposure regimes, media, analytical
methods) for testing nanomaterials in standardized toxicity tests. Both pilot testing
protocols and definitive protocols should be evaluated with respect to their applicability
to nanomaterials.
Environmental Fate/Distribution of Nanomaterials in Ecosystems
• ORD should lead on research on the distribution of nanomaterials in ecosystems.
Nanotoxicology and Dosimetry
• ORD should determine the effects of direct exposure to nanomaterials or their
byproducts, associated with dispersive nanotechnology uses, on a range of ecological
species (fish, inverts, birds, amphibians, reptiles, plants, microbes). This research should
be focused on organisms residing in ecological compartments that the nanomaterials in
question preferentially distribute to, if any, as identified above. This research should
include evaluation of the uptake, transport, and bioaccumulation of these materials.
• ORD, OW and OPPT should lead research on the interactions of nanomaterials with
microbes in sewage treatment plants in sewage effluent and natural communities of
microbes in natural soil and natural water.