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Increasingly manufacturers are infusing a large and diverse number of consumer products with nanoparticle silver ("nano-silver") for its enhanced "germ killing" abilities. At least 300 products containing nano-silver are already on market shelves, ranging from household appliances and cleaners to clothing, cutlery, and children’s toys, to personal care products, food packaging, and coated electronics.  Yet scientists agree that nanoparticles are fundamentally different substances from their larger scale cousins and that nanomaterials can create new and unique health and environmental risks that need new forms of safety testing.   

In May 2008 the International Center for Technology Assessment (ICTA) and the Center for Food Safety (CFS) filed a legal petition with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on behalf of a coalition of public interest organizations calling on EPA to regulate nano-silver products.  EPA has broad authority over all substances intended to kill pests, including germ-killers, but it has not yet addressed the growing nano-silver market.  The legal petition demands EPA assess the safety of these materials to the public and the environment before permitting commercialization.  The petition also calls on the agency to require safety data from manufacturers and require mandatory and approved labeling.  Finally, the petition calls on the agency to stop the sale of those nano-silver products currently on the market until the agency properly assesses their impacts.

With at least 300 consumer products containing nano-silver already on the market, many of them marketed toward children, it is time for EPA to do its job and regulate nano-silver products. Comments are now being accepted until March 20, 2009 – please send your comment today urging EPA to grant the ICTA/CFS petition and to regulate nano-silver products!