A couple of weeks ago I commented on the toxicity of carbon nano tubes. Well here is a timely review of the literature by Prof. Krug, discussing the toxicity of “engineered nanomaterials (ENMs)”.
He examined 10,000 publications which appeared since 2000 for features pertaining to human health effects of studies involving some sort of biological conclusion. He found that “Most of these studies, however, do not offer any kind of clear statement on the safety of nanomaterials. On the contrary, most of them are either self-contradictory or arrive at completely erroneous conclusions“.
Basically the whole area of the toxicity of these compounds is a mess. This is probably down to, amongst others, the lack of standard experimental procedures without which any results will really be meaningless. Prof. Krug calls for the “international harmonisation and the rules of toxicology” in oder to address this rather pitiful situation we seem to be in.
So the conclusion: “Currently, an overview of the many thousands of publications which have appeared to date leads to the clear conclusion that, despite great efforts by many working groups, no unexpected results that give cause for concern have been shown for technical nanomaterials, with a few not very surprising exceptions such as quantum dots containing cadmium, soluble zinc oxide and copper oxide particles, and fibrous carbon nanotubes (including associated metal catalysts). The uncertainty remains as to whether hazardous effects possibly exist which have not yet been found or whether such effects are in fact absent in the ENMs investigated to date.“
As with most things we have a responsibly to ensure that these materials are not uncontrollably released into the environment. The effects on the fauna and flora, not to mention on human health may not be observable for many years (think chrysotile, think silicosis).
I think that ENMs entering the lungs, in spite of the “vast majority being cleared” is definitely not a good thing. And it is exactly that; the vast majority are removed by macrophages, what happens to the vast minority of material which remains?
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