Small, but Dangerous (Washington Post)
- Rick Weiss highlighted the exciting medical potential of nanotechnology ["Nanomedicine's Promise Is Anything but Tiny," news story, Jan. 31], but only briefly mentions nanomedicine's potential toxicities.
In preliminary studies, carbon nanotubes have been shown to cause lung inflammation in animals and cell damage in cultured human skin cells. Another study showed that fullerenes, which are nanoscale molecules with great potential as drug-delivery devices because they can pass the body's defense barriers, can cross into the nervous system of fish and damage their brain cells. The Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering recently concluded that "factories and research laboratories [should] treat manufactured nanoparticles and nanotubes as if they were hazardous."
It is important that safety concerns go hand in hand with the justified enthusiasm for nanomedicine's potential. More here (registration required)
Invisible horrors and ghost stories
Choose your own 'irrational' scenario
Nanotubes and the tale of the rats
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