Nanomedicine Boosters Cautioned on Unknowns
The American Society of Nanomedicine wrapped up its second annual conference earlier this month with a presentation by two toxicology experts. The string of presentations on mind-blowing nanomedicine research was tempered by a sobering message: "a new frontier comes with new, and often unknown, risks."
Günter Oberdörster, a professor of environmental medicine at the University of Rochester, and Paul Howard, an official with the Food and Drug Administration's National Center for Toxicology Research, both in the U.S., said there are reasons to be concerned about the human and environmental impact of nanomedicine, particularly since there is a simple lack of knowledge about exactly what these new materials do.
According to Oberdörster, the common thinking about all nanomaterials is "…that they're small and move freely around the body, and that humans have few defenses against them," adding that people think of these substances as "cute little assassins."
Studies being conducted to evaluate nanomaterials, said Oberdörster, tend to use extremely high doses of the materials, calling their relevance into question. Howard said his agency's biggest problem is the difficulty of detecting problematic materials since traditional testing methods tend to be inconsistent or completely unreliable when nanomaterials are involved.
Both researchers concurred that a lot more investigation is needed to understand what's dangerous, and what's not, when it comes to nanomedicine. "The question I would ask is, where does it go? How is it metabolized?" Oberdörster said. "That's the key issue, to follow the life cycle of a nanomaterial, from cradle to grave."
The full article by G. K. Shaw (New Haven Independent) can be viewed online here.
Source: Meridian Institute Nanotechnology & Development News