Life Cycle Assessment in regulatory decision-making

Government agencies face demands for more use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in making decisions on the health and environmental dimensions of nano-enabled products. This paper is a preliminary assessment of the current utilization of life cycle approaches in the U.S. regulatory system. It notes the absence of legal authority for LCA in most U.S. environmental and health laws, and observes how long embedded statutory authority may preclude use of LCA where it most needed.