Clean Water Advocacy - Newsroom - NACWA in the News
Silver May Keep Foods Fresher, Longer
http://wcbstv.com/consumer/local_story_223141446.html
Kirstin Cole
Reporting
(CBS) NEW YORK Scientists are always on the lookout for new ways
to fight germs and odors. Now comes word they've found literal silver lining to
the search.
Like most of us, Ryan Merenda is constantly buying food, and then storing it in
plastic containers in his fridge, which doesn't always produce the best lasting
results.
"I've used containers before where stuff in two, three days, it goes bad," said
Merenda, who loves to cook.
Now a new container is combining plastic and metal to extend freshness.
Super-small silver nanoparticles are infused into the plastic with impressive
results.
Ryan decided to compare plastic to silver by placing strawberries inside two
containers. Ten days later he pulled them from his refrigerator and the winner
was clear.
"The silver container," he said. "They're actually still looking very fresh like
the day I bought them."
While the medical community to fight bacteria and odor has used silver for
decades, this precious metal is now showing up in everything from clothes to
soap, even washing machines! The silver works when it comes into contact with a
certain germ, including e-coli or staph.
Andrew Maynard, Ph.D who works on emerging nanotechnologies explained how the
silver works. "That will end up in stopping that microbe being able to breath or
reproduce, effectively killing the microbe."
One washing machine promises to kill 99.9 percent of bacteria by injecting
silver ions into every load of laundry.
"There's two silver plates inside of it and there's a grapefruit sized device
that actually nanoshaves the silver plates," said JR Raines of Best Buy.
"There's 100 quadrillion electrons running through the water."
But some are sounding the alarm for the impact all this silver could have on the
environment-- silver is highly toxic to aquatic life.
"We need to evaluate these products and find out where that silver is going,"
said Alexandra Dunn of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies.” We
need to know exactly what effects that is having on species in the water."
Does the silver have an impact on humans?
"From what we know there isn't too much safety concern for humans," said
Maynard. "You need an awful lot of silver in your body before it becomes
harmful."
The silver infused containers used in this piece is the fresher, longer miracle
food storage containers. They are manufactured and sold by the sharper image.
The cost is $69.95 for a 12-piece set.