The Not-So-Silver Lining of Your Anti-Microbial Outdoor Apparel | Outside Online: "You expose silver nanoparticles to one generation and it shows up in the next generation," says Martin Mulvihill, the executive director of U.C. Berkeley's Center for Green Chemistry and the author of a recent article about the study published in Environmental Health News. "It crosses the barrier between generations, and that is of the greatest concern. The Duke study shows silver nanoparticles persisted in the environment and underwent changes that might make it dangerous [to plants and animals]," he says.
Just what nanoparticle silver means for the long-term health of individual organisms or for ecosystems as a whole is not yet known, however, because silver in nanoparticle form may behave differently in nature than other forms of silver that have been studied for a longer time.
Meanwhile, manufacturers continue to market clothings, socks and shoes that are coated in the stuff. The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies has cataloged more than 700 consumer products in the health and fitness category that manufacturers have labeled "nanotechnology-enabled," and 24 percent of these items use silver nanoparticles.
Just what nanoparticle silver means for the long-term health of individual organisms or for ecosystems as a whole is not yet known, however, because silver in nanoparticle form may behave differently in nature than other forms of silver that have been studied for a longer time.
Meanwhile, manufacturers continue to market clothings, socks and shoes that are coated in the stuff. The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies has cataloged more than 700 consumer products in the health and fitness category that manufacturers have labeled "nanotechnology-enabled," and 24 percent of these items use silver nanoparticles.