Silver Nanoparticles

[GLT]

California Teen Wins Stockholm Junior Water Prize
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, August 20, 2008 (ENS) - For discovering the
potential toxicity of silver nanoparticles, a high school student from
the United States was awarded the prestigious 2008 Stockholm Junior
Water Prize Tuesday evening in a formal ceremony in the Stockholm
during World Water Week.

Joyce Chai, a student at Palos Verdes Peninsula High School in Rolling
Hills Estates, California, received the prize from the hands of Crown
Princess Victoria on behalf of the Stockholm Water Foundation. She
also received a US$ 5,000 scholarship and a crystal sculpture.
Joyce Chai, right, receives the Stockholm Junior Water Prize from
Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria (Photo courtesy World Water Week)
Chai's project entitled "Modelling the Toxic Effects of Silver
Nanoparticles under Varying Environmental Conditions" won the 2008
Stockholm Junior Water Prize for exploring this new category of
micropollutants, now used in industry for a variety of purposes.

Silver nanoparticles, known for their ability to fight bacteria, are
incorporated into items such as bandages, clothing, cosmetics, car
wax, and toys.

When these items are laundered or discarded, silver nanoparticles are
released into the environment, including water bodies, with little
knowledge of their fate and potential toxicity.

Chai's scientific research takes steps towards understanding and
quantifying the potential environmental consequences and risks of
using silver nanoparticles.

This study repudiates the assertion that silver nanoparticles are more
reliable and less environmentally hazardous than silver ions. The
research questions the reliability of their use in consumer products.

Said the Stockholm Junior Water Prize Nominating Committee, "The
scientific impact of this investigation is extremely profound, and we
expect that it will open the door to serious questioning and further
studies regarding the widespread use of silver nanoparticles."

In May, a coalition of U.S. consumer, health, and environmental groups
filed a legal petition with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
demanding that the agency use its authority to regulate pesticides to
stop the sale of more than 260 consumer products using silver
nanoparticles.

The legal action is the first challenge to EPA's failure to regulate
nanomaterials, which are made up of microscopic particles.

The Stockholm Junior Water Prize is presented each year to high-school
age students for outstanding water-related projects that focus on
topics of environmental, scientific, social or technological
importance.

The international honor is given to an individual or group who, like
their 30 co-competitors, has been awarded the top prize in national
competitions. The national country winners travel to Stockholm from as
far as Argentina, Ghana and Vietnam.

The projects "Restoration of Water Reservoirs Using Latent Phases of
Aquatic Organisms, from Russia's Alexey Shinkarev won honorable
mention as did "Firewood Hearth Distillers for Safe Water for
Vulnerable Rural Populations" from a Sri Lankan team.