KNOCKING NANO PARTICLES OFF THE SOCKS
Scientists in
Switzerland are reporting results of one of the first studies on the release of
silver nanoparticles from laundering those anti-odor, anti-bacterial socks now
on the market. Their findings may suggest ways that manufacturers and consumers
can minimize the release of these particles to the environment, where they
could harm fish and other wildlife.
In the study,
Bernd Nowack and colleagues note that widespread use of silver nanoparticles in
consumer products, especially textiles, likely results in the distribution of
nanoparticles in lakes and streams. Manufacturers favor silver nanoparticles
because of their antibacterial action, which slows the growth of odor-causing
bacteria. The scientists studied release of nanoparticles in laundry water from
nine different textiles, including different brands of commercially available
anti-odor socks. Previous studies laundered socks, but in pure distilled water.
They found that most
of the released particles were relatively large and that most came out of the
fabrics during the first wash. The total released varied from 1.3 to 35 percent
of the total nanosilver in the fabric. Bleach generally did not affect the
amount released. "These results have important implications for the risk
assessment of silver textiles and also for environmental fate studies of
nanosilver, because they show that under certain conditions relevant to
washing, primarily coarse silver-containing particles are released," the
paper says.
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