Inventory of Engineered Nanoparticle-Containing Consumer Products Available in the Singapore Retail Market and Likelihood of Release into the Aquatic Environment

Abstract

Consumer products containing engineered nanoparticles (ENP) are already entering the marketplace. This leads, inter alia, to questions about the potential for release of ENP into the environment from commercial products. We have inventoried the prevalence of ENP-containing consumer products in the Singapore market by carrying out onsite assessments of products sold in all major chains of retail and cosmetic stores. We have assessed their usage patterns and estimated release factors and emission quantities to obtain a better understanding of the quantities of ENP that are released into which compartments of the aquatic environment in Singapore. Products investigated were assessed for their likelihood to contain ENP based on the declaration of ENP by producers, feature descriptions, and the information on particle size from the literature. Among the 1,432 products investigated, 138 were “confirmed” and 293 were “likely” to contain ENP. Product categories included sunscreens, cosmetics, health and fitness, automotive, food, home and garden, clothing and footwear, and eyeglass/lens coatings. Among the 27 different types of nanomaterials identified, SiO2 was predominant, followed by TiO2 and ZnO, Carbon Black, Ag, and Au. The amounts of ENP released into the aquatic system, which was estimated on the basis of typical product use, ENP concentration in the product, daily use quantity, release factor, and market share, were in the range of several hundred tons per year. As these quantities are likely to increase, it will be important to further study the fate of ENP that reach the aquatic environment in Singapore.

Effects of Nanoparticles on Plant Growth-Promoting Bacteria in Indian Agricultural Soil

“…In the US, 94% of nanomaterials released into the environment from the use of personal care products are zinc oxide (1800-2100 t/year) and titanium dioxide (870-1000 t/year) [6]. In Singapore, the estimated range of release to the aquatic environment of zinc oxide and silver nanoparticles is 1.2-272 t/year and 26.7-27.5 t/year, respectively, from personal care products [7]. Predicted environmental concentrations range from 0.088-10,000 ng/L in surface water to 1.29-39 mg/kg in waste water treatment plant sludge for silver nanoparticles and 1-10,000 ng/L in surface water to 13.6-64.7 mg/kg in waste water treatment plant sludge for zinc oxide nanoparticles [5].…”

Nanosensors and particles: a technology frontier with pitfalls

“…This opened the door to a range of medical applications, including transformative technologies for point of care monitoring and diagnostics devices. It's thus a timely occasion to review the successes of nanoparticles and sensors tailored to serve highly specific functions, from medical applications [2][3][4][5][6] to sensing the environment [7][8][9][10][11][12], as well as to ask where and when caution is warranted [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23].…”

“…The largest production of nanoparticles today, however, is not for biomedical or sensory applications, but to enhance material properties, for agricultural applications [12,26,27], in the food industry [9, 12, 15-19, 22, 26, 27] and in cosmetics [20][21][22]. For example, silver, ZnO and CuO nanoparticles are increasingly used as biocides [8,9,13,16,[18][19][20][28][29][30].…”

Estimating human exposure to titanium dioxide from personal care products through a social survey approach

“…Global production of TiO 2 was approximately 6.1 million tonnes in 2016 and is projected to reach 7.8 million tonnes by 2022; furthermore, the global TiO 2 market is currently valued at US$13.3 billion and is expected to grow at 8.9% annually through 2025 (Research and Markets ). With the current and projected future large production volume and widespread usage, some specific applications may pose a greater potential risk of TiO 2 exposure to humans (Zhang et al ). Particularly, those applications are ones that could lead to direct human exposure to TiO 2 via inhalation (e.g., cleaning aids, spray cosmetics, coatings), dermal exposure, such as personal care products (PCPs), or oral ingestion through food and drink, such as soda, cheese, and chewing gum (Lomer et al ; Chen et al ).…”