Environmental fate and ecotoxicity of manufactured nanoparticles

The increasing use of nanomaterials in recent years has caused public concern for risks related to environmental spreading of nanoparticles (NPs). This concern is partly due to a lack of knowledge on the properties and behaviour of NPs, and a lack of comm unication from the scientific community to the public. This project seeks to develop basic knowledge on the behaviour, fate and possible ecotoxicity of manufactured nanoparticles (NP) in aquatic and terrestrial environments. An interdisciplinary approach that includes organic and inorganic chemistry, radiochemistry, environmental sciences and biology will be used to study representative and well characterized NPs and environments, their interactions and subsequent exposure and effects on biota at differen t trophic levels. A thorough characterization of a range of NPs to be used in subsequent experiments will be carried out as a basis for understanding behaviour and toxicity, and to permit comparisons with existing and future data within this area of resea rch. The project will develop methods for radiolabelling of NPs that will be used in experiments to study basic properties of NPs (agglomeration/dispersion, adsorption/desorption, mobility) in relation to fate in soil, water and sediments, and specific in teractions with their constituents. Radiotracer experiments will also be used in experiments on exposure, uptake, internal transfer between organs and ecotoxicity. Experiments on ecotoxicity of NPs will be carried out with a battery of organisms (includin g bacteria, algae, arthropods, insects, invertebrates, molluscs and fish) and endpoints that are currently used by the involved labs in bioassays with other environmental pollutants. The results will be used to recommend precautions and possible managemen t strategies for NPs to the Norwegian authorities, and communicated to the public in an effort to rise the general knowledge and awareness of environmental aspects of nanotechnology, including beneficial effects.