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Experts Criticize Nanoparticle Study
from ScienceNOW Daily News
The headlines are laced with fear. "Nanoparticles 'can damage DNA.'" "Nanoparticle Safety Looking More Complicated." "Nanoparticles Indirect Threat to DNA." All seem to suggest that a new study, released [Thursday], has found that nanoscale materials, used in everything from medical imaging to cancer treatment, can damage genetic material in our bodies, feeding public fears.
But this particular study has little relevance to human exposure risks, experts say, and it is deeply flawed in other ways. "I think it's a meaningless study, to be blunt" says Günter Oberdörster, a nanotoxicologist at the University of Rochester in New York State.
Oberdörster and others agree that some concerns over nanoparticles are valid. These particles, 1 to 100 nanometers in size, are made from a wide variety and combination of elements. Their small size gives them unique optical, electrical, and chemical properties, raising concerns that they might have unforeseen effects in the body. And a variety of studies with animal models has shown that nanoparticles can trigger damage in living tissues.
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