Our report (download below) details the growing threat to public health posed by extreme germ killer nano silver, and exposing the huge number of consumer applications in which it is found. Silver has long been known as a potent antibacterial agent. However its use has exploded in recent years, not only in medical applications, but in a huge number of consumer products, including children's toys, babies' bottles, cosmetics, textiles, cleaning agents, chopping boards, refrigerators and dishwashers, available in Australian shops.
Much of the silver used is in the form of nano silver, a tiny and especially potent form. Early studies suggest that not only could nano silver pose serious new health and environmental risks, its reckless widespread use could promote antibacterial resistance, undermining its efficacy in a medical context.
Over-use of this extreme germ killer poses a serious public health risk. It is unnecessary to coat cups, bowls and cutting boards, cosmetics, personal care products, children's toys and infant products in nano silver for 'hygienic' reasons. Indiscriminate use of biocidal silver in huge numbers of products is not only unnecessary, but may pose toxic risks. It could also promote dangerous anti-bacterial resistance to silver.
One of the main reasons nano silver is now used in wound dressings is because of the growing bacterial resistance to antibiotics. Already up to 110,000 deaths per year in the European Union can be attributed to bacterial infections. Widespread use of nano silver in consumer products could render it ineffective in a medical context.
Nano silver could also interfere with beneficial bacteria in waste water and sewage treatment. When water is increasingly becoming precious, especially in Australia, the release of biocidal silver from clothing, cosmetics and dishwashers into waste streams raises further concerns. Toxic nano silver may also contaminate waste intended for re-use.
Friends of the Earth calls for a immediate moratorium on the commercial release of products that contain manufactured nano silver until nanotechnology-specific regulation is introduced to protect the public, workers and the environment from their risks, until all products are labelled, and until the public is involved in decision making.
Why not send a message to our decision makers that you want an end to sales of unsafe, untested, unlabelled nanofood, make a donation to support our work, or contact us to get involved with our campaign?
Tell the Federal Innovation and Health Ministers to stop sales of unsafe, untested nano and biocidal silver consumer products! Please send a message to Innovation Minister Senator Kim Carr and Parliamentary Secretary for Health Senator Mark Butler that you want a halt to the sales of unsafe, untested nano and biocidal silver consumer products.
Get involved with our work With so much at stake, we need your help! Email Friends of the Earth's Nanotechnology Project Campaigner Fiona Thiessen for more information about how you can get involved in our work, or to receive our monthly e-bulletin Nano News.
Support our work If you can't get involved, why not make a donation to support our important work to achieve precautionary management of nanotechnology.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| FoE_nanosilver_report_textonly.pdf | 562.85 KB |
| Nanosilver Report 2009.pdf | 4.27 MB |
