Five reasons to use bacteria when assessing manufactured nanomaterial environmental hazards and fates

Manufactured nanomaterials (MNMs) are increasingly incorporated into everyday products and thus are entering the environment via manufacturing, product use, and waste disposal. Still, understanding MNM environmental hazards and fates lags MNM industry growth. To catch up, keep pace, and influence future MNM safe design strategies, rapid safety assessments are needed. Bacteria are important ecological nanotoxicology targets to consider when assessing MNM safety: bacteria are exposed to MNMs in water, sewage, soils, and sediments, wherein they influence MNM fates; bacteria can also be impacted - with potential health and ecosystem consequences. Routinely using bacteria for assessing MNMs would promote effective management of the environmental risks of this rapidly growing industry, but appropriate protocols and policies for this assessment need to be instituted.