Nanoparticles could pose threat to humans:
scientists
VIENNA (AFP) - – They can make fabric resistant to stains,
improve the taste of food and help drug research, but nanoparticles
could also pose a danger to human health, experts warned
Wednesday.
Susanne Stark, of the Consumer Information Association, told a
seminar in the Austrian city of Salzburg that companies should be
forced to indicate on labels whether a product contains the tiny
particles.
"There are more questions than answers on the effects of
nanoparticles" on human health, the chemist said.
Cosmetic and food products should indicate whether their
products contain nanoparticles by 2012, she said.
Nanoparticles, measuring no more than 100 nanometres (0.00001
centimetre), have helped to revolutionise how everyday products are
made.
The particles are used to make stain-resistant paint or creamy
cosmetic and food products. They can also change colour to indicate
whether a product has expired.
But their risk to humans remains largely unknown.
Nanoparticles can enter the body through the mouth and nose, the
digestive system or the skin, and spread inside the body through
blood vessels, said Hans Peter Hutter, a doctor specialised in
environmental hygiene in Vienna.
"These tiny particles could without a doubt go all the way to
the placenta," he said. But he warned that little was known about
their behaviour inside human tissue.