A new joint effort between the United States and the United Kingdom will work to develop risk-management tools that government officials will be able to use to effectively regulate nanomaterials. The Nanomaterial Bioavailability and Environmental Exposure (Nano-BEE) Consortia is a US$5 million effort comprised of environmental and scientific agencies in both countries, as well as investigators from three universities each in the U.S. and U.K. According to lead U.S. investigator, Vicki Colvin of Rice University, “[R]egulators need tools that will allow them to look at a wide variety of nanomaterials and rapidly identify the most significant potential problems for a specific nanomaterial in a specific location. This consortia will model how the local environmental chemistry influences the availability of nanomaterials. We expect to see a lot of variability: What is safe in one area may be unsafe someplace else.” The consortia hopes to produce a “plug-and-play” tool that would allow regulators to enter information about a particular nanomaterial, and the tool would then tell how much of the product could be safely released in that location. Colvin says this type of regulation, based on sound science and validated models will help accelerate nanotechnology innovation. “The worst thing for an emerging technology is to be faced with uncertainty. This consortium will provide a predictable and quantitative framework for regulation that companies and the public can have confidence in,” she said. The article can be viewed online at the link below.<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.media.rice.edu\/media\/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID=15276&SnID=2013438090<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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