by hmm » Mon May 08, 2006 5:05 am
<!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=2132">www.dailytech.com/article...ewsid=2132</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><br>Carbon nanotubes have practical applications for anything and everything, but is there a dark side of CN that we are ignoring?<br><br>Nanotechnology was supposed to revolutionize the world. Experts in material science, bioengeering, and chemical engineering were now beginning to manufacture products 0.0001 times the width of a human hair. The unique properties of materials this small promised a future of advanced miniaturization of electronic components, novel pharamaceuticals and drug delivery systems, improved gas mileage, longer lasting tennis balls, better sunscreens and even flat panel televisions that anyone can afford. <br><br>While that future may still come, there is rising concern about the potential risks of nanoparticle toxicity. Carbon nanotubes are at the forefront of the discussion. In 2004, NASA researchers at the Johnson Space Center showed that when carbon nanotubes reached the lungs, they were more toxic than carbon black and even quartz on an equal-weight basis. <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>In 2005, researchers at UT El Paso, showed that the cell toxicity effect of carbon-nanotubes was essential identical to that of chrysotile asbestos.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> Last March at a Society of Toxicology meeting, researchers from Tottori University showed the first series of images that showed carbon nanotubes entering the blood within a minute of contact with the lung. Once in the blood, the negatively charged carbon nanotubes attached to red blood cells, potentially leading to future complications.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>isnt progress wonderful.. <p></p><i></i>
