Are Carbon Nanotubes Safe?

Are Carbon Nanotubes Safe?

Carbon nanotube is about molecular manufacturing. Nanotechnology is exploding with possible new and amazing products and materials. We are already using many of the these new materials in products on the market today. Nanotube coatings are used on the hulls of ships giving them a 3% boost in energy savings. The big savings is they don't have to drydock the ship to clean and paint the hull as often and saving a lot of unproductive time. They are now used in cosmetics to make makeup and lipstick last longer.

Image via Flickr

I don't think there has been much testing on the safety of nanotubes being ingested by humans. This seems crazy to me to put this directly on your skin and lips which brings it into you blood stream quickly. I'm for more testing and stop using people as Guinea pigs. Everything is about making a fast profit without giving any thought to safety.



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Are Nanotubes safe? I believe most are and can be used in manufacturing under the right guideline.
But there is going to be many carbon nanomaterials that will be highly toxic. We need to find them out before we start using them in products.

There are a few groups that are working on manufacturing guidelines and that is a bit comforting.