Üsküdar University Faculty of Health Sciences Occupational Health and Safety Department 4th-year student Nagihan Demir, gave an oral presentation at the International Congress on Industrial and Environmental Toxicology.
The main theme of this year's 2nd congress was “Industrial Toxicology and Occupational Health in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises”. The congress also discussed topics such as industrial and environmental diseases and cancers, genotoxicity, neurotoxicity, nanotoxicology and its environmental effects, environmental pollution, occupational and environmental risk assessment, preventive and protective strategies, and the social impacts of occupational and environmental diseases and their relationship with health systems.
“Nanoparticles pose many dangers to human health”
Nagihan Demir, a 4th-year student of Üsküdar University Occupational Health and Safety Department, presented her study titled “Toxic Effects of Nanoparticles” at the congress.
Demir listed the dangers of nanoparticles for human health as follows: “They cause irreversible effects such as pulmonary edema and skin discoloration in high doses. A study on rats documented that nano silver particles reached the brain via the upper respiratory tract. Long-term and repeated exposure leads to irreversible and untreatable bluish-gray or black discolorations in the skin, nails, eyes, mucous membrane, or internal organs, known as argyria or argyrosis. Nano silver particles are also used in water-based wall paints marketed as stain-resistant and self-cleaning; as is known, silver belongs to the heavy metal class. When nano silver particles come into contact with the skin from the surface they are on, they penetrate the human cell wall (barrier) due to their nanoscale size, causing accumulation in cells. Despite the antimicrobial property of silver particles, excessive accumulation results in heavy metal poisoning in the body. They cause heavy metal accumulation and cancer in living organisms.”