To summarize the direction I see this discussion heading:
It is easier and more useful to place restrictions on production, rather than on design. This (in the US at least) places most of the responsibility for impact assessment on manufacturers and financial backers, rather than on state or federal organizations.
So, will or should this responsibility be moved to the government?
This is assuming the usual method of centrally mass-produced products. What if there is a serious move toward rapid prototyping machines and local or small scale production, where end users purchase a design and production capabilities separately? Does it then become useful to regulate design, or will the market do that automatically? Also, how well can the need for or appeal of a design be assessed before it is embodied as a product? How difficult would it be to assess environmental impact when production methods vary and facilities are so distributed?