Is It Toxic? Bio-Strips Could Tell Us Now

July 13, 2009

Most planet-minded folks are used to saving electronic versions instead of printing or, better yet, using an application that makes a chainsaw sound for every print job. But Canadian researchers just developed a potentially life-saving kind of printout.

Chemist John Brennan and his colleagues at McMaster University in Ontario came up with a way to print toxin-detecting biosensors on paper. Designed almost like a pregnancy test, a thin film of the enzyme--deep breath--acetylcholinesterase is deposited over a layer of ink made from silica nanoparticles. Put a drop of questionable toxins on the paper and, presto, the color changes depending on how toxic the sample is.

A bio-sensitive strip can be made for around 25 cents now, according to Brennan, although he hopes the price will go even lower. He also estimates that it could take between two to three years for the strips to be commercialized. The sensors could be a fast and inexpensive way to detect food-based toxins, poisons, and some insecticides, especially in areas of the world that don't have ready access to bio assays for involved testing. While the eco-freak in me ponders paper alternatives, this is clearly not something you'd want to recycle. However, Brennan does report that the strips can be incinerated.

Photo: Printing paper-based biosensors sound the alarm. Credit: McMaster University.

Comments

[roejohn]

i hope it will be commercialize soon before there will be a thousands of people suffer from unsafe or questionable water. it should also lower the price and ordinary people from remote area of the different part of the world can use to test the toxicity level of the water source. Like in the place of my friend. I've just heard that in their place name Minikani Island Philippines. Its always a question for me if the sea surrounds the island is safe during rainy season because of abandon mining deposits in the high land. The water from the mining sites will just go directy into the sea.