Nanoparticles and Nanotechnology

Comment:  Nanoparticles showing up in more and more products, including clothing and washing machines which contain silver nanoparticles.  Little is known about the health effects, so it was nice to see these two stories today.  I was particularly interested in the second one and the potential for silver nanoparticles to be classified as pesticides.

Nanoparticles affect pollutant toxicity
http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=4854.php

(Nanowerk News) Other organic (carbon-based) chemicals are known to have an effect on the toxicity of pollutants to plant and animal life. But nanoparticles like C60 have unique and altered properties compared to larger particles, and so they may have a very different effect on the toxicity and availability of pollutant molecules. The nanoparticles themselves may also be inherently toxic.

New Device for Germophobes Runs Into Old Law
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/06/business/smallbusiness/06sbiz.html?_r=1&ei=5087&em=&en=2d26da9be22cce03&ex=1204952400&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print

 

With so many people worried about getting sick — whether from the common cold and flu or exotic new strains of

antibiotic-resistant bacteria — Paul and Jeffrey Metzger had every reason to hope that the germ-fighting key fob they invented would be a runaway hit.

Their device, known as the Handler, began selling last year online and in stores like Duane Reade pharmacies for about $11. It features a pop-out hook so germophobes can avoid touching A.T.M. keypads, door handles and other public surfaces where undesirable microbes may lurk. As added protection, the Handler's rubber and plastic surfaces are impregnated with tiny particles of silver to kill germs that land on the device itself.

But those little silver particles have run Maker Enterprises, the Metzger brothers' partnership in Los Angeles, into a big regulatory thicket. The Metzgers belatedly realized that the Environmental Protection Agency might decide that a 1947-era law that regulates pesticides would apply to antimicrobial products like theirs. <snip>