ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the regulation of graphene, with a focus on the Toxic Substance Control Act.
Figure 25.1 Graphene is an atomic-scale honeycomb lattice made of carbon atoms (from From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository). There has been much buzz within the scientific community and popular imagination about nanoparticles and their seemingly endless uses and applications. One of the more recent wunderkinds in the world of nanotechnology is graphene, a two-dimensional allotrope composed of a single layer of carbon atoms, hexagonally arranged [1]. Stack several of these layers together and you have common graphite. But isolate a single layer of graphite as “graphene” and it exhibits a host of unique properties [2]. Graphene
is stronger than steel, harder than a diamond, more flexible than rubber, and more conductive than copper [3]. It is also extremely thin (some call it the “thinnest material on earth”), light in weight, transparent, and versatile in its applications [4]. While the only commercial use known to the authors is as an additive to lithium ion batteries to improve energy density, researchers are exploring dozens of other potential commercial applications, including use in transistors, television and phone screens, solar cells, DNA sequencing, and camera sensors [5]. 25.2 How Is Graphene Regulated? Given the exciting possibilities and ever expanding research into uses for graphene, it is important to consider potential regulations that may affect the manufacture or import of graphene. While it
does not appear that there is any federal or state regulation that specifically identifies and addresses graphene, as a nanoscale material, graphene is likely regulated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). It may also be regulated under other federal laws depending on any intended future use (such as in a pesticide), but this article focuses on TSCA because it is broadly applicable to most commercial and industrial uses. California’s new Green Chemistry Initiative and Safer Consumer Products Regulations also encompass nanoscale materials, but regulation will not take effect until the California Department of Toxic Substances Control identifies specific nanomaterials in a “priority product” that it is targeting for regulation-an unlikely event for at least a couple of years given the status of the regulatory roll-out of this program. 25.3 Regulation Under the Toxic Substances
Control Act (TSCA)TSCA governs various aspects of the use of new and existing chemical substances, including nanoscale materials. As defined by the law, a “chemical substance” is “any organic or inorganic substance of a particular molecular identity…” [6]. Graphene is, thus, a “chemical substance” under TSCA and subject to EPA regulation under that statute. But what does that mean?
