Are nanoparticles safe for human consumption? Are they safe to use in clothing?
Yes they can be. It depends on exposition, substance, life-cycle, intentional and unintentional surface modifications, granulation (if applicable), and other factors. There are lot's of reviews on the topic and several publicly available reports for government institutions around the world. You need to either work through those or specify your question considerably. :) All the best to you.
Be careful with the asbestos example. Asbestos fibers with a certain aspects ratio are very bad for human health when inhaled. A large part of that hazard arises from the length of the asbestos fibers. If they are stiff and around 10 micrometers long or longer inhalation leads to frustrated phagocytosis which generates ROS via an inflammation pathway variation (and some other effects). Asbestos fibers that are different in aspect ratio trigger different and often less severe reactions. As it is so often, the devil here lies in the details ;-)
Different kinds of nanoparticle could be more reactive than other. I think we still do not know adverse effect in all cases. What do you think about self assembly structure? Could we do healthy nanoparticles?
anotechnology as a branch of science which is related to nano materials helps inovercoming the limitations of size and can change the outlook of the world regarding science. One of the most important characteristics of silver nano particles is disinfection of some microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, viruses and nematodes. It is hypothesized that the toxic effects of nano silver are due to uncontrolled generation of free radicals and stimulation of oxidative stress. It is obvious that nano science is progressing and many unknown effects of nanomaterials will be uncovered in near future.
Everything depends on the material, the size and sometimes the coating. I´ve just attached a paper where they talk about that
If they are used as pharmaceuticals (for instance for drug delivery) they are supposed to be safe as they have gone through years of clinical tests and trials approved by FDA. Regarding clothing, it depends on size. Usually if they are bigger then skin pores there is not problem, but the chemical composition should be considered too.
It depends on the material the nanoparticles (NP) is composed of. If they are composed of materials like Cadmium, then these NP will be toxic to humans as they leach. But there are other NP that are not toxic like those composed of gold which have been shown to be 'less toxic' to humans.
Positively charged nanoparticle (coated with PEG-NH3 for example) are believed to be more damaging to cell membranes than negatively charged NPs.
Review Paper
A Review of Destructive Effect of Nano Silver on Human Health, Environment and Animals
Open Access via:
http://dx.doi.org/10.12983/ijsres-2013-p231-239
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