This blog is on how some people try to raise fear about things nano.\u00a0 The title of this blog is inspired by Karl Schwarz in a response to a line of comments on a report titled: \u201cCarcinogenic Evidence Against Nanotubes Continues to Mount\u201d that are currently ongoing in the Nanotechnology Zone LinkedIn group.\u00a0 He called this \u201canother Nano-Boo report\u201d.<\/p>\n
The article was a blog by Paul Whytock published by electonicdesign.com.\u00a0 Paul\u2019s article started with the statement that carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are now potentially carcinogenic and pointed to research involving 7 people exposed to the dust cloud from the World Trade Center tragedy.\u00a0 Three of these seven were found to have absorbed CNTs.\u00a0 (There was no comment on whether they had ill effects from the CNT exposure or from the exposure to all the materials in the dust.).\u00a0 He raises the question that this heightens health concerns and also why CNTs were found in the dust.\u00a0 To further the idea that CNTs are dangerous, he points out that available information shows that under some circumstances, nanotubes can cross membrane barriers and goes on to mention a rodent study that produced an asbestos-like effort from CNTs that produced inflammation and formation of lesions.\u00a0 What was not mentioned is that in the Florida study, the researchers created extra long CNTs (greater than 20 micrometer), bundled a number of them together, and insert a large quantity of these packages.\u00a0 A sufficient quantity of any material can be dangerous.\u00a0 There was a case of a Florida woman who died from drinking water.\u00a0 It happened to be that she was drinking 8 gallons of water a day and destroyed her electrolyte balance.<\/p>\n
He adds some additional research that has produced similar lesions and the fact that the body\u2019s immune system was unable to engulf fibers that reach beyond 20 micrometers.\u00a0 This is significantly longer than the typical 2.5 to 5 micrometers of CNTs.\u00a0 There are recommendations that CNTs be considered the same as asbestos because they are both mainly thin, long pointed materials.\u00a0 Consequently, the research that is being done is directed at proving the outcome by setting the experimental conditions in a manner that the outcome that was postulated will happen.<\/p>\n
The choice of words for the title are very informative.\u00a0 The author has a previous article\/blog (2011) titled \u201cWill Nanotubes Become The New Asbestos?\u201d\u00a0 So he is trying to make a point, which he has previously pronounced in trying to get people concerned.\u00a0 There are also statements that companies do not care about the impact of CNTs or nanomaterials on people or the environment.\u00a0 It is possible that this is true in England where Paul Whytock lives, but I doubt it.\u00a0 In the U.S., the companies that I interface with have safety programs that begin with an initial health screening (a baseline) and have continual training and monitoring to ensure worker health and safety.\u00a0 The OSHA training course developed by Rice University and Texas State University address worker nanotechnology safety training.\u00a0 There is currently a national Science Foundation funded program at Texas State and the University of Texas at Tyler that has produced two courses in Nanotechnology Safety education.\u00a0 Topic modules from these courses are also being presented in a number of other courses to broaden the students\u2019 exposure to the need for appropriate precautions in handling nanomaterials.\u00a0 This does not fit the definition of people \u201cnot caring\u201d.<\/p>\n
The remaining question from the article is where did the nanomaterials (CNTs and others) come from in the World Trade Center disaster?\u00a0 The responses in the LinkedIn group have included a number of people who are working in the area of nanotechnology.\u00a0 The responses have included information that the mechanisms of the airplanes crashing into the Towers and the high temperature explosions created a wide range of nanomaterials that are not seen in the normal world.\u00a0 High temperature processes can produce nano-sized particles.\u00a0 Natural events also produce nanomaterials.\u00a0 This has always been true.\u00a0 The difference is that now we have tools that can observe them.<\/p>\n
An article like the one cited above, with it specific headline, is intended to cause concern in the general public, who do not have all the information.\u00a0 The purpose is to scare people to be against whatever this supposed object is.\u00a0 NANO \u2013 BOO! Be frightened, very frightened.\u00a0 It is only by presenting facts and having open discussions that the true situation can be understood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This blog is on how some people try to raise fear about things nano.\u00a0 The title of this blog is inspired by Karl Schwarz in a response to [..]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nanotechnology-risk-management","category-nanotechnology-safety"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=78"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79,"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78\/revisions\/79"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=78"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=78"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=78"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}