VADODARA: Harmful chemicals usually affect the human body adversely if consumed or exposed in large amounts. But small particles of titanium dioxide (nano-TiO2), widely used to give a shining texture of paints, cosmetics, chocolates and other food products, could actually cause birth deformities if used in low quantities.This revelation about the hazards of nano-Tio2 has been made in a study conducted by a team of zoologists from M S University’s Faculty of Science. This means, you could be unknowingly risking lives of your generation next by using paints to colour your house, cosmetics to spruce up your looks or furniture to give a make-over to houses and offices.The study has also been published in the reputed international science journal— Nature.The study revealed that the lower doses are actually toxic and can even adversely impact embryonic development. This can result in deformities in the child right from the time of birth. With the aim to study toxicity of this nano particles and its impact on embryonic development, the team of zoologists led by Dr Ranjitsinh Devkar, principal investigator of the project, had started the research project in 2012. The research was funded by the Department of Science and Technology,of Government of India.“After receiving ethical permission, we used chicken embryo as study model. Initially, we studied the impact of this nano material (in doses 25, 50 and 100 parts per million (ppm) and the results too suggested that they were nontoxic as nothing had happened to the embryo,” said Devkar.But the twist in the tale came when the researchers started conducting the experiments with lower doses of this nano particles. “It is assumed that if the highest dose is non-toxic, then lower doses are obviously non-toxic. But when we used the lower dose of 10 ppm, the results were stunning and equally scary because they actually impacted development of the chicken embryo,” he said.During the development of chicken embryo, there is a process called ventral body wall closure.“This process did not happen after the nano particles were induced in lower doses. If the ventral body wall closure does not happen, internal organs like stomach and intestine keep popping out from the belly, ultimately resulting in human babies born with a deformity, whereby their abdomen remains open with defects,” Devka said.Previous researches have also confirmed that malformations of the ventral body wall is one of the leading causes of human birth defects seen in one out of roughly 2,000 live births.

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