What are the real risks of nanotech?
There are two broad categories of risk assessment going on right now. One is in biological systems — starting with the effects on single-celled organisms on up to sophisticated animals such as vertebrates. For example, scientists are looking at how nanoparticles affect bacteria or how they accumulate in individual cells. The good news is we’re finding some simple ways to control the degree of a particle’s toxicity. This control means we can make the particle toxic only under certain desirable circumstances, such as when we want to cure a disease. There needs to be much more work done before we come up with a big picture. Relatively few multiyear studies have been completed. Some show that the body can process and excrete nanoparticles with no trouble. Others show that high concentrations of these particles can cause cellular damage. As in drug studies, the question is partly: How much is too much? The second major category looks at the environment. Do nanomaterials accumulate in water
