Warnings of this sort are often exaggerated because people are afraid
of new technology. But I take this one seriously. Nanoparticles have
awesome properties, which are sometimes quite different from
macroscopic amounts of the same materials. Until we know more about
them it would be wise to be careful.
People are wise to afraid of new technology. It has often turned out
to be more dangerous than they realized, in ways they could not have
anticipated. A poignant example was an early use of the x-ray to
extract a bullet from a patient. The doctors did not realize that
x-rays cause biological harm and they ended up killing the patient.
They probably hurt themselves, too.
- Jed
