Tag Archives: sports wear

Silver nanoparticles, local business, and some toxicity findings

In December 2008 I saw an article in The Province’s business pages about a local apparel (sportswear) company, Firstar, which produces shirts that don’t smell or stain due to a special polyester fabric that is “moisture- and heart-repelling and bacteria-destroying.” This time they’ve gotten a write up in Business Vancouver

When I first wrote about the company (Dec.22.08), I noted that there was a mention of silver ions which gave the fabric its anti-bacterial properties. I noted that the silver ions were likely silver nanoparticles. I did email a question to the company about this. There was a reply but no information about the silver nanoparticles and possible health issues.

It’s interesting to note that the Business in Vancouver article makes no reference to silver ions and the fabric is described as a microfibre material. Of course, the focus is mostly on the business side of it, which is natural given the paper’s readership/market.

Seeing the article reminded me of them and I went looking for information about silver nanoparticles and some of the concerns regarding its use. I found this article by Michael Berger. It seems that silver nanoparticles can be toxic and the reason for being concerned is that the particles are appearing in the water supply. The sport shirt that hardly ever has to be washed eventually  does have to be washed. And because silver nanoparticles can be washed away, they end up in the water supply.

There are a lot of companies (not just Firstar) using nanoparticles in their products and what that means nobody really knows. Personally, I’d be a little careful about using anything with silver nanoparticles in it.