Anti bacterial spray with nano particles on keyboards of Samsung notebooks

After reading some reviews, I was hyped to get this netbook. Then I realized they sprayed silver nano particles on the keyboard as an anti-bacterial. The craze over anti-bacterial products is simply the latest means to capitalize on Americans fetish for cleanliness. And in this instance, it's nano, meaning it's perhaps more worrisome than the standard organic anti-bacterials (though they make superbugs - yikes). Nano has been linked to cancer. I'd rather not opt-in to something possibly carcinogenic. Hopefully the FDA actually waves its regulatory wand and we can get plain-old keyboards put in these Samsungs until those with the pointy hats can determine the safety issues surrounding silver nano particles.

 

wow. that is funny. you can't be serious. you're worried about nano particles causing cancer? there in more crap in the air that you breathe everyday.

with your logic, you should boycott every manufacturer because all these computers have something toxic....beryllium in motherboards, mercury in lcds,...etc.

 

Nano particles just mean "really really small particles". There's nothing weird or scary about them.

Silver has long-lasting antibacterial properties. All that putting silver nano particles on the keyboard means is that, rather than coat the whole laptop with silver, they've put a very small amount on it. This is obviously a lot cheaper, but it is still effective for killing bacteria.

The nano particles are fixed to the keyboard - you cannot ingest them. It only makes sense to worry about silver nano particles if you also worry about wearing silver jewellery, or having any other silver objects in your home.

 

I have a limited understanding of nano and health, but the above poster clearly hasn't read anything. The jury is out (very out) on the issue, but mostly because nanotech safety is extremely understudied at this point. We don't know yet whether many of the nano particles (carbon, silver, graphites) are safe for us or the environment. Silver nano is particularly worrisome for the latter. The primary worry for the body is that nano particles are so small that they can pass through cell membranes, can accumulate in places where you do not want them (like your lymph nodes or brain), and do nasty things as a result.

http://gizmodo.com/5085465/nano-silver-may-be-envionments-silver-bullet
http://gizmodo.com/392166/are-nanotubes-the-new-asbestos

 

Hi.

Silver nano particles are really bad it you are a Wear Wolf.

Regards

John.

 

If its on a laptop then i wouldnt worry at all as you are only touching it with your skin which is more than enough of a barrier for anything that small.

Otherwise you are far more likely to get hit by a bus than die by inhaling these tiny particles (even if you could). so honestly get the risks into perspective.

If you drink, smoke or eat a poor diet then really a tiny nano partical isnt going to cause you any more harm than is already done

If you like the netbook then buy it!!! you could have a heart attack next week so you may as well get some enjoyment out of your money.

 

While I'm of the opinion that embedded nano silver is harmless, here is a relevant NY Times article:


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/06/business/smallbusiness/06sbiz.html

 

I have read about it, I know there are risks involved in including silver nano particles in anything that might be ingested or inhaled. But I've also learnt enough science to know that the scary "n" word just means that they're spraying a small amount of silver onto the keyboards, and that it is very unlikely that it will (in this form) enter into your body and cause harm.

Really, you don't have anything to worry about.

 

Even if nano particles are bad for people, there are a lot more harmful things in our environment that contribute to bad health more than anything else:

1. Plastic Bottled water - it's now known that chemicals used to make plastic leak into the water and can cause cancer. In children, it affects hormones and growth. How many people here who think nano particles are bad drink plastic bottled water? (or buy soft drinks in plastic bottles) Plastic food containers and anything else plastic is slowly killing off the human race, BEFORE nano particles would have any affect on human beings

2. Growth hormones and steroids - in all the meat you eat because the animals are fed it, and surprise surprise! You are actively putting it into your body and messing around with your hormones. All this before nano particles have any affect on you.

3. High fructose corn syrup - used to sweeten everything in North America, especially soft drinks, bread, food, etc. It's the leading cause of obesity and death.........and surprise surprise! Before nano particles have ANY affect on human beings.

So if the above 3 apply to you (you actively take it in by drinking water from plastic bottles, eat meat, or ingest 99% of foods offered in North America) then trust me, a lot of damage is being done to yourself, more than what nano particles could ever do to you.

By the way, I work next to the former World Trade Center in New York City. Imagine all the damage my lungs are taking inhaling all that asbestos that made up the trade center? I'm worrying about that before worrying about nano particles on my future Samsung NC10!!

 

It's not something I will lose sleep over. Did the jury decide whether or not the radiation from mobile phones fries people's brains?

John

 

Hehe... most funny stuff i have read here on NBR forum

 

Paranoid much? You should bubblewrap yourself.

 

Well I have an X460 on the way. I will report back any "blackened" finger tips or other abnormalities of the digits as time progresses. Hopefully the action of typing will keep the keys from getting corroded from the silver tarnishing...

 

The silver nano treatment is not new. It was a feature of the Samsung R20 which came out in March 2007 and Samsung sold a lot of them.

I could not see any difference to a normal keyboard.

John

 

LG and Samsung have been using silver nanoparticle antibacterial products for washing machines over 5 years. There have no serious medical consequences reported so far.

However, it is true that the jury is still out on the medical risks (if any).

 

I really don't mean to mock you but........LOLZ!

You really have nothing to worry about. As someone has already said, all this is is tiny tiny tiny silver particles sprinkled on the keyboard, and silver can't give you cancer.

In fact, due to its properties in staving off infections and the like, major manufacturers are now making "silver plasters" for wounds and cuts. So to put it into perspective, if you had a cut and used one of these silver plasters, you would be in contact with more silver than if you licked about a dozen of the NC10 keyboards.

So no, you won't get cancer, and it's totally 100% safe

 

Hi.

My new toothbrush has, antibacterial silver ions on the brush head to prevent bacterial growth.

Regards

John.

 

pffft. tinfoil hats and oxygen tents needed here methinks.

 

Is it possible to somehow remove the "dusting" of nano particles? How ingrained in the keys is this coating anyway?

 

I've had a couple of Samsung notebooks (R20, NC10) with this coating and it just looks like normal plastic. There is nothing to scrape or rub off.

John

 

i dont think this is anything to lose sleep over

 

I am reading a lot on the Samsung NC10 about the keyboard sprayed with nano silver particles and that it may be toxic and bad for your health. I really like the NC10 and actually have ordered one but now I am deeply concerned about this issue.

http://nano.foe.org.au/node/162

Does anyone have any information, article or source on this stating that the the keyboard is 100% safe and there won't be a massive recall in the future?

 

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/38913/title/Nanosilver_disinfects_—_but_at_what_price?

Interesting read.

 

Yeah but this nano silver stuff is new and the scarey part is I cannot find anything that says its safe to use. Anyone else have any luck?

 

ZOMG!!! I've had the laptop with the silver nano anti-bacterial spay for a few months now and its caused my fingers to fall off, totally sucks

I have to type with my nose now. Grrrr

BTW thats a joke


I dont see why people are so worried about this stuff and I say its safe, happy now

 

Hooray!! I have finally found some Positive news on this subject!

There have been many articles praising the germ killing properties of silver nano particles while casting doubts about the harmful effects they might have on the immune system and/or the environment. As the Senior Scientific Advisor to Colloidal Science Laboratories (CSL), in our experience there has been nothing but good results reported concerning effect on the immune system, and we have experimental proof that the nanoparticles do not remain “nano” in size once they contact any parts of the environment (earth, sand, water from various sources, sunlight). The rapid growth rate greatly reduces the surface area of the particles and, concurrently, greatly diminishes biological activity. Let us take these issues in order.

First of all, examine the question of whether or not nanosilver harms the beneficial bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract.
The small intestine in a healthy individual is teaming with various strains of acidophilus which silver nano particles may potentially kill if it proceeded far enough through the GI tract. We believe that silver nano particles are absorbed in the first feet of the small intestine and therefore should not progress far enough through the GI to cause any problems.
It may well be that, in a healthy person whose small intestine is fully colonized by various strains of acidophilus, there would be no noticeable adverse affect from ingestion of colloidal silver; but a person whose intestines are already compromised due to some other condition (yeast, diverticulitis, etc.) may find that they should take an acidophilus supplement. Yeast is a natural occurrence in everyone's intestinal tract. In a healthy person, yeast may constitute about 5-10% of the total flora in the intestinal tract, and as long as the acidophilus is the predominant constituent in the small intestine, yeast cannot get out of control.
However, when doctors prescribe one antibiotic after another the antibiotics destroy all colonies of acidophilus in the small intestine and the yeast can then grow completely out of control very rapidly. Through the yeast's normal metabolic processes, it creates a pH that is much more alkaline than is conducive to the growth and proliferation of acidophilus, and the acidophilus cannot reestablish itself once the yeast has taken over. Thus, anything that has antibiotic properties that is taken over a long period of time could potentially compromise the colonies of acidophilus and allow yeast to take over. Basically, anything that reduces the amount of healthy flora in my intestinal tract will only serve to assist the yeast.
In practice, very few users have reported any problems in their GI tract as a result of using silver nano particles. Those that believe they have experienced a change in their GI tract have used an acidophilus supplement on an occasional basis and experienced no further difficulty. Silver nano particle do not accumulate in the body, but are flushed out daily in normal bodily excretions.
Furthermore, regular users of silver nano particles have reported overwhelmingly an improvement in health and an apparent resistance to disease and infection, indicating that their immune systems are improving, not being compromised. In vitro studies by EMSL Laboratories have confirmed the effectiveness of silver nano particles against virtually every kind of pathogen.
The second question concerns the effect of silver nanoparticles on the environment. Anyone who has tried to make nano particles knows that nanoparticles do not remain “nanosize” for very long when they come in contact with normal environmental samples, such as soil and water, but they agglomerate to form much larger, much less biologically effective, silver particles which are non-toxic, non-ionic and have no history of being harmful to the environment or aquatic life. Even the researchers who are questioning the harmfulness agree that the larger particles are simply harmless silver metal.
For example, in my paper, “Nanoparticles – No Threat to the Environment”, which can be found in its entirety at www.purestcolloids.com, in the learning center section, it was shown that an 80% reduction in surface area, and therefore high reduction in biological activity, took place in a brief period of time. Furthermore, the zeta potential was in the wrong region to support colloidal stability.
These facts were submitted as a paper to “Environmental Science and Technology”. This journal, which is already publishing counter opinions, dismissed the paper in record time without contacting any of the referees whose names were suggested for the paper. It is clear the this journal is not interested in getting at the truth, but in supporting the positions of big Pharma, whose financial interests are in jeopardy because of the growing trend toward natural cures, such as colloidal silver.

 

excellent find, case closed

 

Silver absorbed into the human body. Sounds safe. Doesn't it.
/sarcasm

The scary thing here isn't the nano-particles, but that people are drawing conclusions based on misinformation and/or no information at all. Just because you haven't suffered any consequences does not make it '100% safe' as someone said above. Going by that logic smoking is '100% safe'.

Consumers should have more awareness of what manufactures are producing. There have been many instances throughout history that some well presented manufacture has released products onto the market which have had severe consequences to the consumer. Consumers should be pushing for tighter standards that govern the kind of materials/products able to be produced.

It is fine if you don't care about the issue, but it doesn’t mean you have to ridicule the poster who was only raising a valid concern.

 

lol can't say that i'm worried about touching my Q210 keyboard, but just in case people are considering NOT to buy the NC10 (or any Samsung) just because of nano particles on the keyboard... how about getting a keyboard protector skin instead to make yourself feel better?
Just a suggestion but I'm not sure about the health implications of a keyboard protector...

 

Silver Nanotechnologies and the Environment
http://www.nanotechproject.org/publications/archive/silver/

 

+rep to u Laura. Drunken Cactus is right about sitting on the fense on this one until more studies are out. Lets not forget stuff like radioluminescent paint was once deemed safe until more studies were completed over time. By then all they could do was pay up lawsuits and offer sorries to the families of the cancer victims.

The jury is still out on this silver particle issue, so the question now is simply whether you want to be a participant in this mass human trial or not. If you dodge the bullet in 20 years, good for u. If you don't..good for science?

Anyway gave it a quick read through, this paragraph on the uptake rates of different organism types, from simple bacteria to animals with complex systems like us (zebra fish), might interest the thread starter:


excerpt from page 49:

***************
although little
experience exists with any of these in
nanoparticle or nanosilver studies.
It remains uncertain whether uptake of
nanosilver particles occurs into bacteria cells
(e.g., Balogh et al., 2001). But bacteria and
cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) are classified
biologically in a unique kingdom, the
prokaryotes. These organisms do not have
capabilities for endocytotsis, so they may be
less likely than are other higher-order organisms
to pass nanosilver through their cell wall
(Moore, 2006).
The organisms that are more highly
evolved than bacteria (almost all other life
forms, classified as eukaryotes) are capable of
endocytosis. Thus, it is not surprising that
nanosized particles can be taken up by these
higher-order organisms. Most studies show
transport into and retention by isolated cells
in vitro. Fewer studies consider living organisms
in vivo. Nanosized particles of sucrose
polyester (Moore, 2006) or silicate fibrils
(Koehler et al., 2008) were shown to be
taken into the cells of the gills and the digestive
gland of blue mussels (Mytilus edulis)
after exposure of the whole organism. The
smallest silicate fibrils appeared to pass
across the gill cell membrane by diffusion,
whereas larger particles were taken up by
endocytosis (Koehler et al., 2008). The
sucrose polyester was taken up by endocytosis
only (Moore, 2006). Uptake of sucrose
polyester into the cells occurred whether the
nanoparticles were ingested or were suspended
in water. The nanoparticles appeared
to be taken into lysosomes within the cell
after uptake in both studies.
Uptake of free, unaggregated nanosilver
particles was recently demonstrated in the
50
embryos of zebrafish (Lee et al., 2007; Text
box 13). Single silver nanoparticles in water
were observed crossing the external tissue
that protects the embryo via diffusion
through unusually large pores. The particles
then penetrated the embryo itself, although
the mechanism was not clear. As the embryo
matured to an adult, the nanoparticles were
retained and spread through a number of
major organs. Ultimately, a body of such
work with a variety of organisms and conditions
will be necessary for definitive conclusions
about the processes involved. But the
study with zebrafish (Lee et al., 2007) refuted
the simplest null hypothesis: that risks
from silver nanoparticles can be discounted
because the particles are not available for
uptake by organisms. Nanosilver is bioavailable,
although details like rates of uptake and
fate within the cell are less known.


***************

 

Personally I think Samsung needs to make this an option instead of just doing it. I know many folks that have refused to buy these machines because of this. It should be up to the individual to protect themselves from bacterial by using hand sanitizers, not Samsung putting something on the keyboards that some may find a bit scary. I am not paranoid about it like some are, but if a had been given a choice I would have likely opted out!