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| Follow this link to access the discussion paper. |
In its February 2012 newsletter, the Institute of Occupational Medicine based in Edinburgh, UK announced having published a discussion paper on the potential health consequences of exposure to high-aspect respirable particles.
The paper entitled 'High Aspect Respirable Particles' was written by Dr. Craig Poland, a research toxicologist at the Institute. It examines the health hazards that have been associated with fine particles and fibres, and the toxicological properties of some new generation materials, such as carbon nanotubes and graphene nanoplatelets.
The paper entitled 'High Aspect Respirable Particles' was written by Dr. Craig Poland, a research toxicologist at the Institute. It examines the health hazards that have been associated with fine particles and fibres, and the toxicological properties of some new generation materials, such as carbon nanotubes and graphene nanoplatelets.
The author reports some of the following findings:
'As the fibres are not cleared efficiently, repeated exposure and inhalation of the fibres can mean that if they don't dissolve, they can slowly accumulate in the lung. Here they may cause a problem such as inflammation, DNA damage or scar tissue formation or other forms of disease.'
Furthermore, the author reports that research findings by his colleagues show that graphene nanoplatelets, 'if introduced into the lungs, can cause frustrated phagocytosis and so can drive responses such as inflammation and disease.'
The paper concludes that determining toxicity relationships using physico-chemistry to predict toxicity can reduce the need for toxicology testing in and can be 'used in better risk assessment, risk management and disease prevention that will allow the safe development and use of new materials.'
