Endocrine Disrupting Effects of Carbon Nanotubes: A Systematic Review on Next Generation Nanotechnology based Agrochemicals

The etiological factors for increased risk of endocrine and reproductive disorders remain largely unclear but huge number of data from in vitro, in vivo and epidemiological studies, support the association of their incidence with long term exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals /agrochemicals in the modern world. Engineered Nanomaterials (ENMs) could be considered as new alternatives to overcome the environmental challenges of endocrine disrupting pesticides and fertilizers and to reduce human health risks of cancer and endocrine toxicity based on their unique physicochemical properties. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are the initiative members of the big family of ENMs used for developing “Nanotechnology Based Agrochemical” but despite remarkable detoxifying effects mediated by CNTs, a number of controversies and key questions address the toxicity and endocrine disrupting properties of these authoritative agents which may introduce to the global markets new generation of as nanofertilizers ,nanoadsorbents and nanopesticides soon .The actual issue stems from limited number of studies in valid toxicology models on CNTs related endocrine disruption and absence of systematic reviews on CNTs exposure-mediated endocrine health hazards especially with respect to epidemiological and human data. In this direction this systematic review focused on the following sub-topics: (1) an overview on CNTs applications as novel agrochemicals (2) environmental risks and benefits of CNTs 3) toxicokinetic and toxicodynamic of CNTs (4) contribution of CNTs in pathogenesis of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular effects 4) evidence on the involvement of CNTs in developmental and reproductive toxicities from in vitro and in vivo studies (5) conclusions and perspectives.