Fri. Mar 29th, 2024
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Since many have touted nanotechnology as the “future” of science and innovation, nanomaterials have been for the past decade utilized in the production of agrochemicals like pesticides and fungicides. Scientists are constantly working on developing new technologies that prevent the crops from diseases but without harming the number of crop yields. When combined with the nutrient runoff from the fertilized wetlands and manure rich pastures, the nanomaterials present inside the pesticides could cause the outbreak of toxic algae in nearby streams, lakes, ponds, and wetlands. The study was published recently in the journal Ecological Applications. Nanomaterials are extremely small in size and sometimes cannot even be detected by the most powerful microscopes. The small size of the particles makes these particles occupy more surface area and have better interactions.

While nanomaterials prove beneficial but their interactions could give rise to algal blooms in wetlands. The study was done by Duke University and led by Marie Simonin, a postdoctoral associate at Duke University. Nanomaterials are present in commercial products like dense electronics and self-cleaning fabrics and better food packaging that can prevent food from getting spoilt. Making pesticides using nanomaterials makes them more effective and that too in small doses, but according to Simonin the small-sized particles could potentially harm the environment and have extremely dangerous repercussions on human health.

A lot of nanomaterials produced worldwide are disposed in landfills but a considerable amount is also released in several bodies of water. “And these emerging contaminants don’t end up in water bodies alone,” Simonin said. “They probably co-occur with nutrient runoff. There are likely multiple stressors interacting.” Algae outbreaks in water bodies worldwide are already a cause for concern for scientists. The breakouts reduce oxygen from the wetlands and make it hard for the fish and other organisms to survive in the swamps. They also severely pollute the water and can make people who drink the water sick. Trying to separate the particles from water even through different separation techniques might not prove fruitful since the extremely small size of the particles makes them hard to separate from the water. The team agreed that previous researches might have overlooked the nanomaterials involvement in the ever-increasing amount of eutrophication.

By Purnima

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