Nanopesticides: New Solution or New Threat?
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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In order to assess all the risks associated with the use of nanopesticides, and also to understand whether they are safe and beneficial to human health and the environment, a comprehensive study is required. Melanie Kah and Thilo Hofmann (Melanie Kah and Thilo Hofmann) from the Faculty of Geoecology at the University of Vienna conducted a similar study in this area. His results are published in the journal Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology. The paper presents a modern scientific vision of the possibility of using nanopesticides, and also identifies the priority areas for future research.
Over the past few decades, nanotechnology has developed extremely rapidly, which has allowed the creation of new materials with a very wide range of possible applications. Using some of these materials, it is possible, will reduce the amount of environmental pollution. For example, carbon nanotubes and metal nanoparticles can be used to clean contaminated water and soil.
However, until now there is no 100% confidence that the use of nanomaterials will not adversely affect human health and the cleanliness of the environment. The withdrawal of nanoparticles into the environment, in accordance with the precautionary principle, should be limited until their potential danger or toxicity is fully assessed. As Tilo Hofmann (now dean of the Faculty of Earth Sciences, Geography and Astronomy of the University of Vienna) explains, a complete understanding of the impact of nanoparticles on the environment is necessary, especially in order to objectively assess how much the potential benefit will be higher than the potential risks associated with the use of new technology .
Among the many possible ways of using nanoparticles, it stands out that nanotechnology has enormous opportunities for creating revolutionary new methods of farming. Studies in recent years have been very active, new pesticides have been created using nanotechnology. Nanopesticides are a wide range of different products, some of which are already on the market, for example, the antimicrobial pesticide HeiQ AGS-20 based on silver nanoparticles. Although research on these nanopesticides is well under way, little is known about this new product, and the market has largely not yet been delivered to the market, and until it is done (in most cases, what is now advertised as nanopesticides, those, strictly speaking, are not). Since the new product has not only improved, but also new qualities, the situation will soon change and humanity and its environment will experience new advantages of nanopesticides, as well as new risks associated with their use, Tilo Hofmann emphasizes again.
Nanopesticides cover a large number of products, some of which have already appeared on the market. The use of nanopesticides is the deliberate injection of a large number of nanoparticles designed by humans. This innovation, like many others, will entail various changes in the environment, which can be both negative and positive, the same applies to the impact on human health. The use of such pesticides and fertilizers will help both to reduce pollution of water and soil, as well as to additional pollution due to the appearance of new qualities (rapid spreading and deposition, greater efficiency and toxicity, for example).
The level of knowledge that exists to date about nanoparticles does not allow us to say with certainty how much their use will be effective and safe. Only large-scale studies will assess all risks. It will also be necessary to amend existing legislation that regulates the use of pesticides.
Nanopesticides can create new types of contaminants that spread over vast areas and will be very difficult to eliminate. In history, there have been many examples where the new technology subsequently created a new type of pollution, causing ecosystem destruction and a variety of diseases in humans. The most famous example is coal and oil motor fuel, which today are the cause of this global epidemic of pulmonary and oncological diseases.
Many scientists fear that with the nanoparticles used in agriculture, the same story may repeat. And if with harmful exhausts of cars it is possible to cope with the transition to other energy sources, then it will be very difficult to extract nanoparticles from soil and water.
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