Cal Baier-Anderson, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist.
Ah, summer! It’s a great time to be outdoors, enjoying the warm, sunny weather. Before you go outside, be sure to grab your sunscreen, that essential product that protects against skin cancer and sun damage. But which kind of sunscreen is best? There is a mesmerizing array of sunscreen options, but for our purposes let’s limit the question to one: Nano or not nano?
John Balbus, M.D., M.P.H., is Chief Health Scientist.
A new paper by Shaw et al., published in May in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, “suggests a generalizable and scalable method for the systematic characterization and comparison of novel nanomaterials” using high throughput in vitro tests. Does this mean that the National Academy of Sciences’ vision for toxicity testing in the 21st century – proposed for conventional chemicals – is already here for nanomaterials? Not quite. Read More
Cal Baier-Anderson, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist.
The proliferation of nanoscale materials in consumer products is impressive: nano titanium dioxide and zinc oxide in sunscreen, buckyballs in face creams, and nanosilver in socks are but a few examples of what is currently available for purchase. But they make me wonder: what happens when the nanomaterials in or released from these products are washed down the drain? Read More
John Balbus, M.D., M.P.H., is Chief Health Scientist.
A new study published today in Nature Nanotechnology finds that multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) cause inflammatory changes in mice that closely resemble those caused by asbestos. This is the second study in a few months to make this finding. (I posted on the first, Takagi et al., a few weeks ago.) So is the case closed on multi-walled carbon nanotubes? Or is too early to draw conclusions? Read More
John Balbus, M.D., M.P.H., is Chief Health Scientist.
The history of health and environmental impacts of fuel additives is not a pretty one. From tetra-ethyl lead to methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), we’ve learned the hard way that what goes in the tank ends up in our bodies and the environment sooner or later. Getting a thorough understanding of the potential risks of a new fuel additive at an early stage is essential to avoid a lot of harm, suffering, and economic costs down the line.
A new study by Park et al. has assessed the potential respiratory risks of a fuel additive called Envirox (nanoparticulate cerium oxide), giving it a clean bill of health based only on in vitro tests. Is this the vision of the future of risk assessment? Should we feel safe? Read More
Cal Baier-Anderson, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist.
A recent article posted on scienceline includes a claim that bacteria cannot develop resistance to silver, which is widely used as an antimicrobial. That assertion is not only false, but also dangerous. Read More
