EPA to Regulate Some Nanotechnologies as Pesticides

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced in November 2006 that it would regulate a form of nanotechnology for the first time. Engineered at the scale of one-billionth of a meter, nanotechnology is now used in over 200 consumer products, according to the nonprofit Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies. EPA has decided that one technology, nanosilver, is a pesticide and therefore needs to be regulated under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. Nanosilver uses the antimicrobial properties of silver. Small amounts of nanosilver are released to the environment when the material is used in air fresheners and washing machines, among other products. Like other pesticides, EPA will be looking at it for possible impacts on public health and the environment.