A team of US researchers have discovered that the likelihood of nanoparticles in cosmetics being inhaled is high and have called for legislation requiring manufacturers to report the use of engineered nanomaterials in their products.

A new study shows that silver nanoparticles have the potential to inhibit nitrifying bacteria in wastewater treatment works. Nitrifying bacteria play an important role in breaking down sewage. The study raises further concern about the widespread use of nano-silver in consumer products.

33 Australian nanotechnology scientists recently attended a 4 day workshop to explore opportunities for collaboration with the US military. Friends of the Earth have raised concerns that the collaboration could contribute to a nano arms race, making the world a much less safe place.

Friends of the Earth have called for the Government’s expert committee on antimicrobial resistance to look at the widespread use of nano-silver in consumer products.

The call follows the release of a survey by the Australian Group on Antimicrobial Resistance in The Age which found a ''worrying trend'' of E. coli and Klebsiella species to produce enzymes that make them resistant to some of the most powerful antibiotics.

 Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass) have provided the first evidence that engineered nanoparticles are able to accumulate within plants and damage their DNA.

A new report in Nature Nanotechnology has found that ultra-fine grains, nanoparticles commonly used in our drugs and processed foods could change the surface structure of our intestinal lining.

Nanoparticles like titanium dioxide or aluminium silicate are increasingly used in pills or food, and consumed by their trillions each day by folks in the global North. Ultimately, these nanoparticles may be changing the way we digest food and absorb nutrients....and most likely for the worse.

Cosmetics and sunscreen industry group ACCORD has called the Australian government's refusal to label nanoparticles in sunscreens and cosmetics "out of touch". In a story on Radio National's AM, the industry has repeated its calls for labelling for informed choice - interviewed members of the public agreed.

The nano-sunscreen debate is reaching ever wider audiences.

Channel ten TV show The Project interviewed the FoEA Nanotechnology Project's Dr Gregory Crocetti on the risks of nano-sunscreens and our calls for government action.

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