4 replies to this topic

[Live Forever]

Here is a link to a story over at Technology Review about the potential to pose a health hazard of that some types of nanoparticles, as suggested by preliminary studies. Evidently, it is bad news for nanotech. [sad]

[Athanasios]

A poster provided this link suggesting that the problem was the spray, not nano...

http://www.photonics...l/19/82280.aspx


"According to BfR, it is possible that the reported health effects were associated with very fine airborne droplets produced by the aerosol product."

The aerosol was the only product in the Magic Nano line that was not actually produced by the company, but by one of its suppliers, the name of which was not disclosed. According to press reports, Kleinmann suspects it is not the nanotechnology that is at fault, but the anticorrosion liquid inside the aerosol.

The BfR said, "The distributors of the two sealing sprays were unable to supply the full formulations because information was missing from their upstream suppliers. A definitive toxicological assessment of the acute pulmonary disorders following use of the two products was not, therefore, possible in the scientific discussions."

"

[jmmathieu]

Well whether or not this particular instance was caused by nano-sized particles, there is plenty of evidence accumulating that these particles can cause serious health issues. I for one hope nanotech advances as quickly as possible, but there has to be caution and it's just something scientists are going to have to deal with. I'm in grad school at Rice, one of the biggest researchers in nanotech, and I've seen the cell studies being done. We work with the stuff pretty freely, but I wouldn't want to ingest any or breath it in...

[maestro949]

The title of the article is unfortunate. This is chemistry gone bad and really doesn't have anything to do with nano-technology. Each of us have hundreds of manufactured industrial toxins coursing our veins daily of various size. These ones just happened to be more harmful and weren't detected as such before being productized.

[Mind]

Is nanotechnology a health timebomb?

Perhaps yes, but not in the way they think. It poses existential risks, just like the development of AGI.

At least the article did not go as far as to call for a complete ban, saying the benefits outweigh the risks. Careful monitoring is needed.