Nanoparticles in Cosmetics May Harm Environment

Using aquatic microbes as their “canary-in-a-cage,” scientists from Ohio today reported that nanoparticles now being added to cosmetics, sunscreens, and hundreds of other personal care products may be harmful to the environment.

Their report was part of symposia that included almost two dozen papers at the 237th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society where scientists grappled to understand the environmental and human health effects of nanotechnology. Hundreds of products utilizing these microscopic particles — 1/5,000th the diameter of a human hair — already are on the Read more

Shampoo Boosts Drug-resistant Bacteria

Scientists at Birmingham and Warwick universities have warned that fabric softeners, disinfectants, shampoos and other household products are spreading drug-resistant bacteria around Britain. Once these products are released into sewers and rivers they instigate the proliferation of drug-resistant microbes, increasing the likelihood that certain medicines will not be able to combat dangerous diseases.

The research suggests that the problem of drug resistance is not simply due to antibiotics being over-prescribed or poor hygiene standards in hospitals, although the emergence of deadly superbugs such as MRSA are not linked to the use of disinfectants.
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Cocktail of Cosmetic and Pharmaceutical Chemicals Pollute Oceans

Research conducted by Tobias Porsbring of the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, has demonstrated that chemicals assumed to be non-toxic in isolation can pose an environmental threat when in combination with other chemicals. When European and other authorities assess the environmental risks of chemicals they often look at them individually but they do not work alone in the environment. As it states on the University of Gothenburg website, “Chemicals, drugs and personal-care products that accompany wastewater often end up in the oceans, where they form a “cocktail” of chemicals. This “cocktail-effect” may be more harmful than the individual chemicals alone.”

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Personal Care Products and Human Medications in US Waterways

Researchers at Baylor University, working in conjunction with the United States Environmental Protection Agency, have detected residues of pharmaceutical drugs and personal care products in fish caught near wastewater treatment plants serving five major U.S. cities.

Findings from this nationwide study of human medicines in fish tissue, published in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, have prompted the Environmental Protection Agency to expand similar ongoing research to over 150 different locations.
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