The American Chemical Society (ACS) has released a podcast, “Providing Safe Foods: Safety of Nanoparticles in Food Crops Is Still Unclear.” An article on the topic appeared in the ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. According to Jorge Gardea-Torresdey, Ph.D., at the University of Texas at El Paso, and lead author of the study, “Nanoparticles, which are 1/50,000th the width of a human hair, are used in products ranging from medicines to cosmetics. The particles also could end up in the environment, settling in the soil, especially as fertilizers, growth enhancers and other nanoagricultural products hit the market. Some plants can take-up and accumulate nanoparticles. But it is unclear whether this poses a problem for plants or for the animals (like humans) that eat them.” The researchers explored current scientific literature looking for evidence to settle the safety question, and found that the uptake and build-up of nanoparticles varies, and largely depends upon the type of plant and the size and chemical composition of the nanoparticles. Gardea-Torresdey adds, “This literature review has confirmed that knowledge on plant toxicity of nanomaterials is at the foundation stage. The emerging field of nanoecotoxicology is starting to tackle this topic, and it will be interesting to see what we discover in the coming years.” The podcast is free and available on the ACS website.