Researchers sound nanotube cancer alarm

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Carbon nanotubes hold promise as a structural material and as a semiconductor, but they also might present a similar danger to that posed by asbestos, which has tiny fibers that can get into lung tissues and cause cancerous lesions. Researchers are suggesting more study and caution in handling the material.

Nanotechnology may be considered one of the most promising new technologies emerging today, but it's also the source of considerable concern about potential risks to the environment and human health. A new study published Tuesday in Nature Nanotechnology adds further evidence that there's good reason for that concern.

In the study, titled Carbon nanotubes introduced into the abdominal cavity of mice show asbestos-like pathogenicity in a pilot study, researchers injected long, multiwalled carbon nanotubes into the mesothelial lining of the body cavity of mice. What they found was that the nanotubes produced inflammation and lesions known as "granulomas," much the way asbestos does.

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[26 May 2008 06:16]