Citizen petition for nanotech regulation filed
Last week, the International Center for Technology Assessment and a coalition of environmental and public health groups, including the the Center for Food Safety, Greenpeace, and Consumers Union, filed a citizen petition asking that the EPA regulate nanosilver as a pesticide under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act .Nanosilver has been added to a host of consumer products -- everything from sheets to bus handrails to children's toys -- for its antimicrobial properties.
In 2006, the EPA said it would regulate consumer products with nanosilver after environmentalists raised concerns about silver-embedded washing machines. Specifically, they were concerned that the amount of silver washed into waste drains from these machines was killing beneficial bacteria and altering aquatic life, as the silver particles may be toxic to some fish.
Despite the EPA's word of forthcoming regulation, the agency has only published a guidance covering the Samsung SilverCare washer. No other regulations or guidance have been issued.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-07-2008 @ 4:17PM
Kelly said...
Nanosilver is arguably a severly estimated threat, particularly because of the nano-sizing. Nanoparticles can penetrate skin and neurons. Look it up. Silver toxicity is not specific to microbes. For many (not all) of the same reasons, humans and most (if not all) lifeforms are also capable of succumbing to silver poisoning. Look it up. If this stuff isn't proactively regulated, 10 years from now, we're going to be dealing with massive reductions (and likely extinctions) of beneficial microbes in our agricultural fields and our oceans. Realistically, this would result in a decline of fish and other animal food sources who rely on microbes for food. Many MIGHT also die of silver poisoning. This scare is absolutely dependent on the public making naive purchases, using nanosilver too frequently (due to its, yes, amazing antimicrobial properties). If we do not urge further research and preemptive regulation, we might find nanosilver to be the methyl bromide of tomorrow (which we're trying to ban/fade out).
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