Nanoparticles in Sewage Sludge May End Up in the Food Chain | Wired Science | Wired.com
Plants and microbes can absorb nano-sized synthetic particles that magnify in concentration within predators up the food chain, according to two new studies.
Nanoparticles can be made of countless different materials, and their safety isn’t well-understood. Yet the minuscule specks are infused into hundreds of consumer products ranging from transparent suncreens to odor-eating socks.
From there, they can wash down drains, ultimately ending up in the sewage sludge of wastewater treatment plants. About 3 million tons of dried-out sludge is subsequently mixed into agricultural soil each year.
“We wanted to look into the possibility of nanoparticles getting into the food chain in this way,” said environmental toxicologist Paul Bertsch of the University of Kentucky. “What we found really surprised us.”
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