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Fig. 2. Antenito distal de Sitophilus oryzae (micrografia MEB 700x). a, Insecto sin tratamiento
(control); b, Insecto tratado con NSA; p = partculas de NSA [Foto: Lic. Fabin Tricrico, MEB,
MACN Bernardino Rivadavia].
ambiente.
La rpida incorporacin de la nanotecnologa en diversos mbitos como la
medicina, ingeniera, electrnica y en la agroindustia es la prueba de su enorme
potencial para el desarrollo de nuevos productos. Los nanomateriales tendrn un
impacto directo sobre la evolucin de la agricultura, debido al amplio espectro de
posibilidades para el desarrollo de nuevas tecnologas y de estrategias para el
control de plagas.
Informacin obtenida en: http://www.scielo.org.ar/scielo.php?
pid=S0373-56802010000200001&script=sci_arttext&tlng=es
And Harper is also well aware that the unique physical properties of the nano-scale
call into question the particles environmental fate. Once theyre sprayed on fields,
will they clump on crops or slide through the soil into water bodies? Most
worrisome, Harper wonders whether they will be readily taken up by organisms
that arent pests (such as bees or fish), and how long they will persist in the
environment properties that could radically change with size. We just dont
know, she says.
The potential for nano-enabled pesticides is unbelievable, but its still a dream at
the moment, says Sonny Ramaswamy, director of the USDAs National Institute of
Food and Agriculture. And the dream goes beyond pesticides. He describes plans
for nano-sized sensors that can detect low nitrogen and send a message to a
farmers cell phone or nanosensors in plastic food packaging that lights up when it
comes into contact with listeria or salmonella. The concern is that there might be
unintended consequences associated with nanoparticles thats the big question
being looked at by federal agencies, he adds. People like Stacey Harper are
providing that yeoman service in making sure we are addressing any potential
unintended consequences.
Harper remembers the first time she heard the term nanotechnology. It was a
decade ago during a meeting at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Las
Vegas, where she worked as a postdoctoral student. Her team was tasked with
assessing the health risks of nanomaterials. The big discussion was what are
they and why are we concerned about them, she recalls.
Intrigued, Harper dove all-in, focusing initially on biomedical applications such as
gold nanoparticles used to target drug delivery (one of the first products that
adopted the technology). Eco-conscious companies were soon flooding her lab
with products ranging from sunscreens to acne medicine to compounds that
fight methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA, a flesh-eating bacteria)
for feedback on safety. She soon realized that with this new technology, an infinite
number of nanoparticle types could be created, and that traditional risk assessment
approaches, which would test individual nanoparticles, werent going to keep up
with the challenge. Its really about figuring out what physical or structural
properties would make one nanoparticle toxic compared to others, she says.
Finding these answers has been anything but easy. One problem is a lack of
funding. Over the last 13 years, the U.S. government has funneled billions into the
National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), a coordinated R&D program that spans
20 federal departments and agencies and aims to spur nanotechnology across
sectors. In 2008, the NNI took an unprecedented step and also began funding
environmental health and safety research. The need to assess new technology
risks is one of the lessons learned from the GM (genetic modification of food)
backlash, says Harper. So far, however, the small fraction of this money available
for risk testing has focused largely on workers who may inhale nanoparticles.
Scientists realized they needed faster, more efficient ways of assessing the risks of
nanoparticles. Harper, for example, developed a test to assess the toxicity of
nanomaterials on zebrafish, an aquatic version of a lab rat, one that can inform
Naturally, he asked his wife for input. She couldnt find anything on the risks in the
scientific literature. The environmental fate of nanopesticides is a big, black hole,
says Bryan. To help fill that void, Harper and colleagues recently received funding
to determine how first-generation agricultural nanopesticides would move through
soil and water, and whether they could inadvertently harm fish or bees.
To test these scenarios, Harper created nano-sized ecosystems to test how these
compounds move through their environment and interact with fauna. In her lab, for
example, plastic containers holding only a few grams of soil are poised above
quarter-sized containers holding embryonic zebrafish. The team applies pesticides
to the soil and then records the number of deformities in the zebrafish embryos.
Harpers OSU colleague, Louisa Hooven, will soon begin an experiment to see
whether aerial sprays of nano-pesticide formulations will effect how bees transport
pollen to their hives. The team expects to publish their findings by the end of the
year.
But testing is not as easy as it sounds. Since the active ingredient in any given
pesticide will likely be an already-approved chemical, pesticide companies dont
have to test a nano-sized version. Harper has run into enough walls that she
doubts pesticide companies will voluntarily share their compounds, or even
whether or not their products contain nanoparticles.
So she started pulling agricultural pesticides off the shelf to see if any already
contain nano-sized particles, which, by definition, would make them nano-enabled
pesticides. Stacey is tenacious, says NPIC director David Stone, who coauthored a 2010 paper with Harper laying out why business-as-usual pesticide
registration wont work at the nanoscale. Shes got a lot of horsepower and
creative ideas, he says, adding that shes one of the few researchers that will test
products already on the market.
An initial scan revealed that 90 percent of the dozen pesticide products Harper and
her colleagues have tested contain particles in the nanoscale range. Now she has
to determine whether the nanoparticles are an active ingredient, a chemical
stabilizer or simply a benign component thats been in pesticides all along, unseen
until recently.
There is very little environmental fate and transport testing of nanoparticles being
done, says Jennifer Sass, a senior scientist focused on regulation of toxic
chemicals at the Natural Resources Defense Council. Its expensive research, and
where companies may have collected some environmental monitoring data, they
dont have any interest in making that information public, she adds.
But Harper knows it wont be long before manufacturers move beyond simply
shrinking pesticides into nano-formulations. She expects to see multifunctional
nanopesticides for example, products equipped with biosensors able to detect
pests before releasing the active ingredient within the next 10 years. The speed
with which the technology is advancing only bolsters her determination to answer
these questions quickly.
Informacin obtenida de:
http://modernfarmer.com/2015/01/everything-need-know-nanopesticides/