Potential artifacts and misinterpretations when evaluating the ecotoxicological effects of nanomaterials

摘要

Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) have significant commercial potential in a broad range of industries for consumer products as a result of their novel properties. However, these same properties may cause unexpected risks once ENMs are released into the environment either intentionally or unintentionally. Thus, standard methods are needed to accurately and reproducibly assess the potential risk of ENMs. One factor that limits the applicability of standard ecotoxicology test methods for use with ENMs is that the unique behaviors of ENMs may cause artifacts or misinterpretations in these tests as a result of their unique behaviors. We briefly discuss these artifacts and misinterpretations and provide an illustrative example.