A Queen's University research team has found that nanoparticles could negatively impact the earth’s ecosystem and soil conditions. Virginia Walker, a professor of Biology explains that silver nanoparticles, for example, are being increasingly used to develop anti-bacterial agents.
As part of the university’s efforts towards the International Polar Year Initiative, the team procured a soil sample from a remote site in the Arctic region, because it was believed that the site was too far from industrial areas to be polluted by nano-particles. It was discovered that silver nano-particles are very toxic to microbial species and negatively impact the sensitive arctic ecosystem.
The team analyzed the indigenous microbe communities that exist in the unpolluted soil samples. To this were added three different nanoparticle types, including silver. The samples were left unattended for six months to analyze the impact the nanoparticles had on the microbes. The unpolluted soil had revealed a positive microbe that attached nitrogen to plants. Plants cannot do this by themselves and nitrogen is essential as a plant nutrient. So these positive microbes were essential for plant growth. The soil analysis after six months after the addition of silver revealed that the positive microbes had diminished. Clinical tests revealed that these microbes were very vulnerable to silver nanoparticles.
The research paper co-authored by Niraj Kumar and Virginia Walker, and Dowling College's Vishal Shah has recently appeared in the Journal of Hazardous Materials.
Source: http://queensu.ca