nanotechnology

There are now 381 consumer products using nanotechnology on the market. But I heard of one at the conference that startled me: a washing machine that releases silver ions that get caught in your clothes, preventing odors because silver kills bacteria. The problem with this is that silver particles in the waste water end up at the sewage treatment plant. Sewage treatment plants use bacteria to process the waste, and if there is enough silver in the water to kill those bacteria the sewage treatment system is going to be in big trouble.