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Nanosilver: a long History of safe Use

Published: Friday 11 December 2009

The US Silver Nanotechnology Working Group (SNWG), has issues a press release on its contribution to the recent EPA Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) Meeting on the topic ‘Evaluation of Hazard and Exposure Associated with Nanosilver and Other Nanometal Oxide Pesticide Products’ (held in Arlington VA, on the 3rd to the 6th November 2009).

The press release highlights key conclusions from the analysis presented by the SNWG during the EPA SAP Meeting; entitled ‘EPA Has Safely Regulated Nanosilver for Decades’, the press release emphasises the following points:

  • ‘Nanosilver is NOT a new material - EPA needs to look beyond general conceptions of nano terminology and consider the broader established regulatory record of nanoscale silver products within the Agency.
  • Nanosilvers have seen decades of safe use in real-life - Given the long history of safe use for
  • EPA-registered nanoscale silver products (stretching back as far as 1954) calls for treatment of nanosilver as a new material requiring development of expensive new test regimes and discriminatory regulatory consideration are difficult to justify.’

The SNWG is a US Silver Institute industry effort, which, according to its website is ‘intended to foster the collection of data on silver nanotechnology in order to advance the science and public understanding of the beneficial uses of silver nanoparticles in a wide-range of consumer and industrial products.’

Follow these links to find out more about the Silver Nanotechnology Working Group (SNWG), to download the SNWG presentation to the EPA SAP Meeting, to read the full SNWG press release (the press release is also available in German on the Rent-a-Scientist website), or to read the SNWG’s written submission in response to the EPA Public Docket (Docket ID: EPA–HQ–OPP–2009–0683).

Follow this link to find out more about the NIA’s submission to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the ‘Petition for Rulemaking Requesting EPA Regulate Nanoscale Silver Products as Pesticides’: ‘Inconsistent nanosilver petition should be denied’ – NIA submits comments to EPA’. (20th March 2009)

 
 
Related Links:
The journal Environmental Science and Technology has published a paper entitled ‘The Behavior of Silver Nanotextiles during Washing’ (Environ. Sci. Technol., DOI: 10.1021/es9018332), reports the results of an experimental study that investigated 9 commercially available fabrics (with silver contents varying between 0.003 and 21.6 mg/g), into or onto which silver had been incorporated in different ways. (9th October 2009)
 
Meeting Reports (by the NIA Delegate):
3rd - 4th November 2009: 3rd Safety for Success Dialogue: Building Trust in Nanotechnology (Renaissance Hotel, 19 Rue du Parnasse, 1050 Brussels)
 
23rd August 2009: NIA Weekly Update - 4/2009 (23rd August 2009)
in this issue:
  • OECD WPMN SG6 / SRA Workshop
  • California DTSC Nanomaterials Data Call-In 
The European Environmental Bureau (EEB) has published the 2nd Issue in a publication series on ‘Nanotechnologies in the 21st Century’: entitled ‘Nanomaterials – Health and Environmental Concerns’, this 2nd paper focuses on the uses and applications of four nanomaterials: [...] (31st July 2009)
 
The June Issue of the journal Nanotoxicology features a review article on nanosilver, entitled ‘Nano-silver – a review of available data and knowledge gaps in human and environmental risk assessment’. According to the abstract, the paper aims to provide ‘an inventory [...] to identify knowledge gaps that have to be filled before risks for both man and the environment can be assessed as reliable as for 'non-nanosized' chemicals. It is hypothesized that the toxic effects of nano-silver are due to a combination of the specific properties of silver nanoparticles and the generation of ions from them.’(30th June 2009)
 
Topical Briefings:
18th June 2009: California DTSC targets Nanometal Oxides, Nanosilver, and zero-valent Iron in possible second mandatory Data Call-In for Nanomaterials
Beveridge & Diamond Client Alert) (18th June 2009)
 
In a joint report entitled ‘Nano & Biocidal Silver’, Friends of the Earth Australia and Friends of the Earth Unites States ‘calls for a immediate moratorium on the commercial release of products that contain manufactured nanosilver until nanotechnology-specific regulation is introduced to protect the public, workers and the environment from their risks, and until the public is involved in decision making.’ (11th June 2009)