Carbon nanotubes: the new asbestos?

May 21, 2008 | Source: Nature News

Researchers led by Ken Donaldson of the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Inflammation Research found that injecting long (more than 20 microns in length), straight, multi-walled carbon nanotubes can cause the same kind of damage as that inflicted by asbestos fibers when they are injected into the lung’s outer lining, called the mesothelium.

Andrew Maynard, co-author and chief scientific adviser for the project on emerging nanotechnologies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, suggests that only short, curly nanotubes should be used. Alternatively, they could be mixed with liquids, rather than using powders containing straight nanotubes that might be inhaled.

Mice injected with short (5 microns) nanotubes or small carbon clumps did not develop disease.