The amount of silver in the sludge from treatment plants in Henriksdal and Bromma in Stockholm rises. Nanoparticles of silver which have been washed out of clothes that are marketed as odorless identified as an important source.
In Europe, consumer products for 10 to 15 percent of the emissions of
silver in the environment. It is about 110-220 tons of silver
nanoparticles per year, says Jonas Hedberg at KTH and IVL Swedish
Environmental Research Institute.
Silver ions kill bacteria. But they are also an environmental toxin, at
least as toxic as mercury. And the silver nanoparticles are quickly
washed out of treated clothing. After ten washes, they may be
completely gone, says Chemicals Agency in a report.
The silver ends up in wastewater treatment plants where the beneficial water purifying bacteria risk of exclusion.
There is also a risk that nanoparticles of heavy metals such as silver,
can lead to bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics, says Sara Hallin
at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. And if the sludge
ends up in the fields, in line with both resistant bacteria and the
silver with and can be spread in the environment.
Bacteria that antibiotics are not biting is a serious global problem,
attacked by both the WHO and the EU. Five years ago found Asa Melhus,
Professor of Clinical Microbiology at Uppsala University Hospital, the
first silver-resistant bacteria in clinical settings in Sweden. The
patient had a chronic leg ulcers treated with a wound dressing having
silver.
After six diversions developed a bacteria that was resistant to silver and even medically important antibiotics, she said.
Bacteria that are exposed to low doses of silver change their cell walls
and membranes so that the heavy metal can not penetrate. But it's the
same road as some antibiotic use to get into the cell. Reduces the cell
wall permeability loses its antibiotic's effect, she says.
We oppose the emergence of new resistant strains of bacteria by being
restrictive with antibiotics, so much so that in some cases it begins to
border on what is medically dangerous, says Asa Melhus.
Meanwhile, the use of products with bactericidal substances like silver
in the community. It can lead to that we will soon have no resources to
use in the most difficult to treat bacteria.
Asa Melhus is concerned about the use of antibacterial substances in everything from sports clothes to pajamas for toddlers.
Of all of the silver nanoparticles are the worst. They let go of the
harmful silver ions until the particle is gone, but have no function.
The trade association Swedish Water has since 2009 worked against the
use of silver particles in textiles and other consumer goods. The alarm
clock came in 2008 when the Rya plant in Gothenburg reported the same
trend that is now visible in the treatment plants in Stockholm - that
the levels of silver in the sediments are no longer falling but begin to
rise.
The only explanation we have is that they started to use silver as an
odor preventer in workout clothes, cutting boards and many other
consumer products, says environmental engineer Lars Norden
In the trade organization Teko Swedish Textile and Clothing Company takes the issue very seriously.
We have neither the council nor the time to simply discuss a subject.
Therefore, we act for Sweden to demand EU legislation on toxic-free
clothes, when we solve even the silver problem, says Henrik Willers