SAY NO! To UNTESTED NONO-PESTICIDES IN HOUSEHOLD PORDUCTS!

Tell the EPA to Protect Consumers from Nano Pesticide Pollution

On June 17, 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its plans to begin protecting consumers and the environment from the growing environmental and  health dangers posed by nano-sized pesticides being used in everyday consumer products like cutting boards, baby bottles and clothing apparel.  This plan would require that companies submit much needed health and safety data about the nanoscale pesticide products already on the market as well as identify the nano-sized ingredients in their products.
However, powerful companies are standing in the way of EPA’s proposed plan and want to slow it down.  Tell EPA to begin protecting consumers now – don’t put off public safety any longer!
Nanotechnology is a powerful new set of technologies for observing, taking apart and reconstructing nature at the atomic and molecular level.  This level is measured in nanometers and 1 nanometer (nm) is equal to 1 billionth of a meter.  For reference, a molecule of sugar measures 1 nanometer (nm), which is about as big in relation to an apple as the apple is in relation to the earth.  A human hair is huge by comparison, about 50,000 nm wide.
Nano means more than just small; the radical reduction in size means that seemingly ordinary materials may behave completely differently than in their larger bulk or macro form. In recent years, nanoscale ingredients have been incorporated into more than 1,300 consumer products like baby bottles, cutting boards, food containers, food packaging, computer parts, curling irons, hair brushes, cosmetics and sunscreens.  However, studies show that the unique properties of nanomaterials can create unpredictable and potentially hazardous risks to human health and the environment.

• Nano-silver (extremely small particles of silver, not to be confused with non-nano colloidal silver) has been found to bind with DNA, damaging the ability of DNA to replicate. 
• Sock fabrics engineered with nano-silver leached nano-silver into water during washing tests, demonstrating the ease with which it can enter the environment.
• Nano-silver is toxic to certain aquatic organisms, beneficial bacteria and ecosystems once the product enters the natural environment, and it has the potential to build up in the bodies of humans and animals.
• EPA itself has recently recognized that nanoscale copper, which is increasingly used as an antimicrobial wood preservative, is more acutely toxic than micronized copper (one size bigger than nano).

Currently, companies do not have to identify or test their products for containing nanoscale ingredients and they don’t have to submit nano-specific safety data.  In the absence of labeling and nano-specific safety data, neither consumers nor the EPA know what products are using nanotechnology and if those products are safe.  EPA has broad authority under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) over all substances intended to kill pests, including germ killers, but has not addressed until now the growing nano-silver market or most other nanoscale chemicals. 
Tell EPA to begin protecting consumers now! Please send your comments to EPA today. The public comment period closes on August 17, 2011.