Nanotubes "As Deadly as Asbestos"

Stony Stevenson writes "Certain carbon nanotubes may be as hazardous to humans as asbestos. A paper to be published in Nature Nanotechnology suggests that inhaling certain types of nanotubes can lead to the formation of mesothelioma, a type of lung cancer commonly caused by exposure to asbestos. "This is a wakeup call for nanotechnology in general and carbon nanotubes in particular," said Andrew Maynard, co-author of the report and chief science adviser to the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies." I'm really hoping that those medical face masks get popular again. That's a look that should really be cyclic, like bell-bottoms and thongs. Update: 05/21 19:18 GMT by T : See also this page at the Nanotechnology Project, which features a link to video commentary from Andrew Maynard, the researcher mentioned in the above-linked article.

Comments

Okay enough is enough

[ZonkerWilliam]

Here's the Journal entry and an additional article from NewScientist stating, and I quote;

James Bonner at the North Carolina State University, Raleigh, US, will shortly publish one of the first such studies. He says the results suggest that nanotubes do not persist long enough to cause damage. In his experiments, mice breathed air containing 40-micrometer-long multi-walled nanotubes. "Very little inflammatory or fibrogenic effect was observed," he says. Donaldson notes that determining the true risks of nanotubes will involve measuring the ways in which people will be exposed to them, something studies on toxicity cannot judge. There is little evidence about exposure so far, says Donaldson. "But the good news is that nanotubes are probably not very 'dirty'," he says. "They are quite highly charged and stick together, so they don't seem to get airborne easily." So there's probably nothing to be concerned about. Just got to love the %^$#@# media, for putting a spin on things.

and it happens all over again

[anmida]

The situation with nanomaterials is the same as the situation with radioactive materials when that field was new. Having worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory, I can say that there used to be practices that were normal that are now regulated to hell, with respect to materials handling, dust generation/cleanliness, etc. Currently, I work somewhere else, and I work with nanomaterials all day long - and when I say nano, I mean powders with individual particles of about 5-20 nm diameter. All the personal protective equipment I usually don is nitrile gloves and safety goggles, and try to work with the material under a fume hood. We try to have safe work practices, but I have the feeling that in 40 years regulations will make you do all your work with them in gloveboxes/cleanrooms/respirators.

Welcome to the Diamond Age...

[argent]

Long thin nanotubes, of course, are the ones that have the greatest potential for making superstrong construction materials.

Neal Stephenson's Diamond Age had the health hazards of "toner" ... the dust and debris of worn out nanotech ... as a major theme. Nano-tight plastics and filters, collectively called "nanobar" (which seemed to be a generic term, not a brand name) were all over the place.

Welcome to the Diamond Age, don't forget your respirator.

Duh?

[BCW2]

This is no different than breathing any fiber into the lungs. Everyone harps on asbestos but cotton is just as bad. That was one of the weird things about smoking, in the 70's they found that people smoking non-filters lived 5 years longer than the ones smoking filter cigarettes. Why, the fiberglass filter. The fiber got into the lungs. So they changed to cotton and got the same results. Ever hear of white lung disease? People who worked in cotton gins sure did. Any fiber or particulate in the lungs will cause scaring at best, enough of that is called emphysema.

Be careful what you breath.

Re:Good News For Lawyers

[Lershac]

Yeah, but the problem is not with the righteous lawsuits... its with the frivolous ones. Own a business for a bit and find out how there are legions of people actively looking for opportunities to sue you and tap your insurance policy.

I witness this from two angles:

1. I owned Brick and Mortar establishment, and slip and fall lawsuits are just a plague. I closed up shop because of the hassle and now only work on the customer site or take their equipment back to our shop.

2. Many of my clients are PI attorneys. Just being in their office frequently and getting to know their business you realize that some of their clients have 4 and 5 lawsuits going at one time. One lady I ran into had to get a plaintiffs ambulance report... the ambulance company had to get very specific about what location she was picked up and dropped off to, as they had serviced her 3 times that day for slip and fall accidents.

We have got to figure out a way to stop the predatory lawsuits while protecting the legitimately hurt people. I dont know the answer to this except that maybe a judge should be able to examine events and circumstances in an attempt to weed the frivolous lawsuits out. But all the judges I know (and I know a few) are so jaded by the process that it just does not happen.