Engineered nanomaterials and the food chain: a risk for the consumers?
Communication présentée au Colloque « Les nanomatériaux » organisé par la Société Royale des Sciences de Liège avec l’aide de l’Université de Liège et du Département du développement technologique du SP Wallonie
Laboratoire de Biochimie cellulaire, nutritionnelle & toxicologique, Institut des Sciences de la Vie & Université de Louvain, Croix du Sud 5, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgique.
Laboratoire de Biochimie cellulaire, nutritionnelle & toxicologique, Institut des Sciences de la Vie & Université de Louvain, Croix du Sud 5, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgique.
Laboratoire de Biochimie cellulaire, nutritionnelle & toxicologique, Institut des Sciences de la Vie & Université de Louvain, Croix du Sud 5, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgique.
Laboratoire de Biochimie cellulaire, nutritionnelle & toxicologique, Institut des Sciences de la Vie & Université de Louvain, Croix du Sud 5, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgique.
Résumé
Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) already became part of our daily life, f.i. as food supplements and in food packaging. With an increasing number of ENMs present in consumer and industrial products, the risk of human exposure increases and this may become a threat to human health and the environment. The dietary consumption of NPs in developed countries is indeed estimated at ca. 1012 particles/person, each day
Possible toxic endpoints, which are not unique to ENMs, are e.g. cytotoxicity, stimulation of an inflammatory response, generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and/or genotoxicity.
The gastrointestinal tract (GIT) is a complex barrier-exchange system and is one of the most important routes for macromolecules to enter the body, as well as a key actor of the immune system. To date, little is known about the toxicokinetic and toxicodynamic processes following oral exposure, particularly in relation to ingestion of ENMs that are present in food.
Nanotechnology offers a wide range of opportunities for the development of innovative products and applications in agriculture, food production, processing, preservation and packaging. However, the present state of knowledge still contains many gaps preventing risk assessors from establishing the safety for many of the possible food related applications of nanotechnology.