The "gold-standard" for toxic tort disasters is asbestos. A common question has been: "what will be the next asbestos?" Lead, mold, Y2K (remember that?) and a host of other potentially harmful agents have been mentioned in this context. Now, it appears that nanotubes may have the potential to cause some serious disease. http://www.nature.com/nnano/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/nnano.2008.111.html

This pilot study, published on May 20, 2008, showed that carbon nanotubes introduced into the abdominal cavity of mice show asbestos-like pathogenicity. Nanotechnology has been the focus of much speculation about its potentially hazardous effects and we are now seeing some suggestions that the tremendous benefits from this new technology may carry a significant price.

We have been following this issue over the past several years and would be happy to provide you with insight into the related risks. Please feel free to give David Governo a call at 617.737.9047.