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Nanotech Paint To Kill Bacteria

Posted by kdawson on from the any-color-as-long-as-it's-white dept.

ColGraff points out reporting at Science News about the possibility of killing bacteria with paint. Scientists in the UK have found that high concentrations of titanium oxide nanoparticles in paint can kill bacteria by creating hydroxyl radicals when exposed to ordinary fluorescent light. Titanium dioxide is present in most white paint at concentrations of 30% or so, but not always at nanoparticle scale. The researchers found that an 80% concentration of TiO2 nanoparticles worked well to kill E. Coli bacteria. There is hope that the technique could be used against "superbugs," which are resistant to multiple antibiotics. A researcher not associated with the UK team pointed out the problem with developing products based on this idea: "[A]nything that survives and sticks around grows greater resistance... ultimately [antibiotic paint] will be its own worst enemy and the bacteria could grow to be even stronger."

3 of 208 comments (clear)

  1. A researcher says what? by Naughty+Bob · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A researcher not associated with the UK team pointed out the problem with developing products based on this idea: "[A]nything that survives and sticks around grows greater resistance... ultimately [antibiotic paint] will be its own worst enemy and the bacteria could grow to be even stronger."

    What a crazy thing to say. It's true, for sure, but has always been the case in the arms race against bacteria. It's what natural selection does...

    What could possibly be the researcher's motivation to say such a strange thing?

    *cough*She's the founder of a rival nanotech firm*cough*

    A coincidence, or fear mongering unscientific FUD? You decide!

    --
    "Be light, stinging, insolent and melancholy"
    1. Re:A researcher says what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So we get bacteria who adapt to live in conditions that are totally unlike the conditions inside a human body.

      Was this supposed to be a bad thing?

      (Captcha: fitness. I swear, the thing has a mind of its own.)

  2. Re:Just what we need, more toxins in environment by tim_darklighter · · Score: 5, Informative

    Reading into some of your links, and being a researcher into titanium dioxide chemistry, I will tell you that the toxicity of titanium dioxide is a) nil for actual ingestion, b) high for your lungs like any small particulates, and c) unknown for sunscreen use.

    A) and B) have been known for a long time. C) is still being studied, but the results I have seen so far in peer-reviewed journals (not random health websites) show that nanoparticle sunscreens are not harmful in any real-life circumstance, and looking at your locokazoo link, the zinc oxide sunscreens are the only ones I would even consider putting on my skin. The rest are organic photo-sensitizer molecules that are more harmful than zinc oxide even without light shining on them.

    None of your links contain any scientific evidence saying nanoparticle sunscreens are harmful. Yes, titanium dioxide powder is bad for your lungs, but the titanium dioxide or zinc oxide suspended in sunscreen or mixed into paint is not particulate, and therefore has more chance of being eaten than breathed, and it is non-toxic in the digestive system. Again, no evidence has shown that the small concentration of "free" hydroxyl radicals formed when light shines on the titanium dioxide in sunscreen has any effect on exposed human surfaces.