Carbon nanotubes are incredibly strong, microscopic, thread like synthetic fibers with a potentially vast range of applications in technology industries. Nanotubes are constructed by linking carbon atoms together in a specific configuration or structural modification of the element known as an allotrope. A carbon nanotube could be visualized as a sheet of paper rolled into a cylinder, where the paper is constructed of single carbon atoms configured in a specific allotrope. With length to diameter ratios of carbon nanotubes reaching 132,000,000:1 at present, their potential applications in nanotechnologies seem virtually limitless. Everything from microscopic mechanical parts, electrical circuits and motors, to microscopic high yield batteries and complicated electronic components could theoretically be constructed from carbon nanotubes.
Unfortunately, carbon nanotube’s thread like structure closely resembles the needle like form of asbestos fibers, which are known to cause a variety of serious and even fatal diseases such as mesothelioma. Airborne asbestos fibers can enter the body easily through inhalation or ingestion, and due to their tiny size and odd shape cannot be expelled by the body’s normal defenses against foreign debris. The fibers slip right through lung and intestinal walls, and eventually become entangled in the mesothelium, a protective tissue that surrounds our body’s vital organs. The resulting scarring of the mesothelium can create malignant tumors that cause death in just twelve to eighteen months.
The use of asbestos products in both residential and commercial construction was normal throughout the twentieth century, and the resulting contamination is responsible for some three thousand deaths annually in the United States alone. After nearly a century of evading critics and covering up key medical evidences, the asbestos industry is just now beginning to come under fire for its hazardous practices and its sabotage of asbestos related studies and medical investigations.
A series of studies performed in the United Kingdom showed that the injection of certain kinds of nanotubes into the abdomen of mice caused the same type of inflammation that is traditionally recognized as a pre-mesothelioma symptom in asbestos contaminated patients. Some fear that the dawn of large scale nanotube manufacturing could be the beginning of yet another epic battle against a massively profitable and dangerously negligent industry.
In the United States, the EPA has recognized the potentially harmful similarities between carbon nanotubes and asbestos fibers, namely their long, thin, thread like shape. The agency has begun taking measures to specify which types of nanotubes could pose potential health hazards.
While the EPA has begun exhibiting some interest in the nanotube industry, it’s important to remember that as of yet no research has conclusively linked carbon nanotubes to respiratory or other health hazards in humans.
