Transport, fate and effects of silver in the environment

Date

• 1997-2001

Publisher

[Madison, Wisconsin]: University of Wisconsin System, Sea Grant Institute

Summary

• Silver occurs naturally in the environment, but it is also used in various businesses and industries, particularly photofinishing. There has long been concern about the effects of silver on aquatic organisms. Over the past decade, significant advances have been made in the understanding of the environmental chemistry, toxicology, and biological behavior of silver. The most recent findings promise to revolutionize scientific thinking not only with regard to silver behavior, but for other metals in the environment as well. The scientific community has learned much new information about sources, concentration levels in natural waters and biota, physico-chemical forms, adsorption and desorption reactions, toxicology, bioaccumulation, influence of ligands, and transport and fate characteristics of silver. The research findings have been made public through individually published peer-reviewed papers and the proceedings of the international Argentum conferences.
• UW Sea Grant Institute sponsored six international conferences on the “Transport, Fate, and Effects of Silver in the Environment”, better known as Argentum I-VI. From 1993-1998, the conferences were held in Madison, Wisconsin; Washington, D.C.; and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The proceedings of the first five conferences were published by UW Sea Grant and are reproduced here. SETAC (Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry) Press published the proceedings for the sixth conference.