"Queen's researchers have discovered that nanoparticles, which are now present in everything from socks to salad dressing and suntan lotion, may have irreparably damaging effects on soil systems and the environment.
...
Millions of tonnes of nanoparticles are now manufactured every year, including silver nanoparticles which are popular as antibacterial agents...
...
We hadn't thought we would see much of an impact, but instead our results indicate that silver nanoparticles can be classified as highly toxic to microbial communities.
...
As plants are unable to fix nitrogen themselves and nitrogen fixation is essential for plant nutrition, the presence of these particular microbes in soil is vital for plant growth. The analysis of the soil sample six months after the addition of the silver nanoparticles showed negligible quantities of the important nitrogen-fixing species remaining" (via ScienceDaily)
Who could have known that? Dispersing antibiotic particles all over the world actually causes bacteria to die! So this is the story of DDT Nanoparticles. It was a wonderful chemical technology that was harmless to humans and would bring a better life to everyone by poisoning unwanted life. It was only years after the large scale introduction, that someone bothered to look at how other life was affected by it and the picture emerging then was dire.... - Oh and of course these particles destroy exactly those nice little bugs that are the source of nitrogen for plants. But chemistry to the rescure - we can just dump more nitrogen fertilizer on them, right?
Nein wer hätte auch darauf kommen können, daß wenn man antibakterielle Silber-Nanopartikel überall verbreitet tatsächlich Bakterien absterben. Darauf kann man ja nicht kommen, oder? Das ist wie damals bei DDT - super Chemie - tötet alles was wir nicht wollen aber uns nicht. Erst nach Jahren der Anwendung hat dann jemand sich mal die Mühe gemacht nachzuschauen ob das auch stimmt und jetzt ist DDT verboten. Aber der Lerneffekt war wieder mal null - Super Nanopartikel - töten alle Bakterien die wir nicht wollen, uns aber nicht. Erst nach Jahren der Anwendung hat sich jetzt jemand mal die Mühe gemacht nachzuschauen ob das auch stimmt.... und was kommt raus? Die Partikel zerstören auch noch gerade diejenigen Bakterien, auf die die Pflanzen angewiesen sind um Stickstoff selbst zu binden. Aber wer braucht das schon - kann man ja Kunstdünger draufkippen....
