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28 UCLA J. Envtl. L. & Pol'y 1 (2010)
Disrupting Conventional Policy: The Three Faces of Nanotechnology

handle is hein.journals/uclalp28 and id is 3 raw text is: Disrupting Conventional Policy: The Three Faces of Nanotechnology Timothy F Malloy* Technological innovation almost always comes at a price in terms of environmental health. In large part, this equation can be traced to one of the fundamental differences between techno- logical innovation and regulatory innovation. The former can often occur swiftly, coming from numerous diffuse sources within the market. The latter, with rare exceptions, moves slowly, flow- ing from centralized state, national or international sources.' Thus, regulatory response typically lags well beyond the intro- duction of new products'and technology. Nanotechnology, de- fined for these purposes as the use, manipulation or control of materials at the nanometer scale, is yet another case in point. Nanomaterials already are present in hundreds of consumer and industrial applications, yet are subject to minimal regulation in the United States and elsewhere. Despite the paucity of comprehensive testing of nanomaterials, there is a growing body of evidence that exposure to some types of nanoparticles may pose significant health risks to workers and the general public.2 The very properties that make engineered nanomaterials valuable-small size, large surface area and highly variable physical and chemical characteristics-both complicate our ability to monitor exposures to nanomaterials and increase the potential that some categories of nanomaterials will prove harmful. Notwithstanding the expected benefits of emerging na- notechnologies and nanomaterials, the hazards associated with them have lead to a cacophony of appeals for various types of regulatory response, ranging from a moratorium to industry self- regulation and virtually everything in between. With this back- * Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law. 1. For a discussion of market innovation and regulatory innovation, see Timothy F. Malloy, Regulating by Incentives: Myths, Models, and Micromarkets, 80 TEx. L. REV. 531, 540, n.23 (2002). 2. Andre Nel et al., Toxic Potential of Materials at the Nanolevel, 311- Sci. 622 (2006).

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