Will graphene spread through the food chain, thus affecting human health?

Graphene in nature can be transported along the food chain. Higher organisms that rarely have the opportunity to directly ingest graphene may also indirectly "eat" graphene, thus posing health risks. The research team led by Mao Liang, an associate professor in the School of Environment of Nanjing University, has systematically studied the environmental impact of graphene in different situations with zebrafish, screws, earthworms, mice and other organisms as objects since 20 1 1 year. It was found that although most of the graphene ingested by aquatic animals was excreted, about 1% of the small graphene still entered the animal cells, and about11000 finally entered the liver.

It is worth noting that the impact of graphene on organisms will be transmitted along the food chain. Take the aquatic food chain composed of bacterial Escherichia coli, protozoa tetrahymena, invertebrate flea and vertebrate zebrafish as an example. Higher aquatic organisms can not only directly ingest graphene from the environment, but also indirectly ingest graphene by preying on lower animals that have accumulated graphene. And in the same environment, the amount of graphene ingested through the food chain is higher than that directly from the environment.

"This shows that even humans who are unlikely to ingest graphene directly may let graphene enter the body by eating fish contaminated with graphene. In general, low-concentration graphene is relatively safe for organisms and the environment, but considering its possible interaction with various substances and its characteristics of spreading along the food chain, its safety assessment and management cannot be relaxed. " Mao Liang introduced that at present, the research on the effects of graphene on rice, wheat and other food crops, as well as on terrestrial higher animals is still in progress. In the future, the action mechanism of graphene on higher organisms, including humans, will be more clear.

Related research results were recently published in Environmental Science and Technology, an authoritative magazine in the international environmental field.