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Comprehensive Environmental Assessment Applied To Multiwalled Carbon Nanotube Flame-Retardant Coatings In Upholstery Textiles: A Case Study Presenting Priority Research Gaps For Future Risk Assessments (Final Report)
Citation:
U.S. EPA. Comprehensive Environmental Assessment Applied To Multiwalled Carbon Nanotube Flame-Retardant Coatings In Upholstery Textiles: A Case Study Presenting Priority Research Gaps For Future Risk Assessments (Final Report). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-12/043F, 2013.
Impact/Purpose:
This document seeks to identify what is known and unknown related to assessing the health and environmental implications of a nanomaterial; in this case multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) used in flame-retardant coatings applied to textiles.
Description:
In September 2013, EPA announced the availability of the final report, Comprehensive Environmental Assessment Applied to Multiwalled Carbon Nanotube Flame-Retardant Coatings in Upholstery Textiles: A Case Study Presenting Priority Research Gaps for Future Risk Assessments. This final report presents a case study of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs); it focuses on the specific example of MWCNTs as used in flame-retardant coatings applied to upholstery textiles.
This case study is organized around the comprehensive environmental assessment (CEA) framework, which structures available information pertaining to the product life cycle, environmental transport and fate, exposure-dose in receptors (i.e., humans, ecological populations, and the environment), and potential impacts in these receptors. A group of experts representing multiple disciplines and multiple sector perspectives used an earlier draft of the case study in conjunction with a structured workshop process to identify and prioritize research gaps that, if pursued, could inform future MWCNT assessment efforts.
The final report is not a health, risk, or exposure assessment and as such does not draw conclusions about potential risks, or present an exhaustive review of the literature. Rather, it presents the MWCNT research priorities that experts identified in this application of CEA in order to aid research planning throughout the scientific community. The outcomes of these research efforts may subsequently inform long-term MWCNT assessments.
URLs/Downloads:
CEA Applied to Multiwalled Carbon Nanotube Flame-Retardant Coatings in Upholstery Textiles: A Case Study Presenting Priority Research Gaps for Future Risk Assessment (PDF, 643 pp, 8818 KB, about PDF)CEA: A Meta-Assessment Approach to Increase Effectiveness of Risk Management and Research Planning (PDF, 2 pp, 233 KB, about PDF)
Nanotechnology White Paper (PDF, 136 pp, 3900 KB, about PDF)
EPA Nanotechnology Research
EPA Nanotechnology Research - Case Studies