Big worries about little tubes

From Chicago, at the EPA Emerging Pollutants Workshop

Carbon nanotubes could carry the same dangers to human lungs that asbestos does, says an Environmental Protection Agency researcher. Philip M. Cook of the EPA’s Duluth, Minn., research laboratory and other scientists had previously linked the toxic potential of various needlelike fibers to their length, width, and shape. Fibers that damage lungs tend to fall into a size range comparable to some carbon nanotubes, an emerging family of synthetic fibers with a variety of potential industrial applications.