CARBON nanotubes might not be as nasty as they are made out to be. It turns out they are tricking a commonly used toxicity test into producing false positive results.
Researchers had hoped that single-walled carbon nanotubes – rolled-up sheets of carbon atoms – could be used in a wide range of medical applications, including drug delivery systems and molecular sensors. This plan was dealt a blow when some forms of nanotubes were shown to be toxic, killing cells they came into contact with.
Now it appears some researchers may have been hoaxed. Jörg Wörle-Knirsch and colleagues at the Institute of Toxicology…
