(Carbon nanotube picture credit: www.bbc.co.uk/news)
Carbon nanotubes – the epitome of the nanotechnology industry – have been found to trigger diseases similar to asbestos in research undertaken on mice including lesions and inflammation.  Use of asbestos triggered a pandemic of lung disease in the 20th Century.
These tiny carbon molecules have remarkable properties that could be used for advanced electronics and materials including medical diagnostics.  They are already known to be incorporated into products such as tennis rackets, bicycle handlebars and baseball bats, where they are used because of their strength and light weight.
In a series of experiments, researchers injected different lengths of …read more