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Micronized copper wood preservatives: an efficiency and potential health risk assessment for copper-based nanoparticles.
Journal article

Micronized copper wood preservatives: an efficiency and potential health risk assessment for copper-based nanoparticles.

  • Civardi C Empa Swiss Federal Laboratories for Material Testing and Research, Wood Laboratory, Lerchenfeldstrasse 5, CH-9014 St. Gallen, Switzerland; Institute for Building Materials, ETH Zurich, Wolfgang-Pauli Strasse 10, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland.
  • Schwarze FW Empa Swiss Federal Laboratories for Material Testing and Research, Wood Laboratory, Lerchenfeldstrasse 5, CH-9014 St. Gallen, Switzerland.
  • Wick P Empa Swiss Federal Laboratories for Material Testing and Research, Materials-Biology Interactions Laboratory, Lerchenfeldstrasse 5, CH-9014 St. Gallen, Switzerland. Electronic address: peter.wick@empa.ch.
  • 2015-02-24
Published in:
  • Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987). - 2015
Copper-tolerant fungi
Micronized copper
Nanocopper exposure
Wood preservatives
Wood-destroying fungi
Copper
Disinfectants
Environmental Exposure
Fungi
Nanoparticles
Risk Assessment
Wood
English Copper (Cu) is an essential biocide for wood protection, but fails to protect wood against Cu-tolerant wood-destroying fungi. Recently Cu particles (size range: 1 nm-25 μm) were introduced to the wood preservation market. The new generation of preservatives with Cu-based nanoparticles (Cu-based NPs) is reputedly more efficient against wood-destroying fungi than conventional formulations. Therefore, it has the potential to become one of the largest end uses for wood products worldwide. However, during decomposition of treated wood Cu-based NPs and/or their derivate may accumulate in the mycelium of Cu-tolerant fungi and end up in their spores that are dispersed into the environment. Inhaled Cu-loaded spores can cause harm and could become a potential risk for human health. We collected evidence and discuss the implications of the release of Cu-based NPs by wood-destroying fungi and highlight the exposure pathways and subsequent magnitude of health impact.
Language
  • English
Open access status
closed
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://sonar.ch/global/documents/40707
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