Forget about lead-tainted mascara or mercury in the salmon filet. The new form of product pollution people are worrying about is nanotechnology—the use of materials measured in billionths of a meter—and how coming into contact with it might damage your health. Fueling the nano-scare is negative press, including a report by the Environmental Working Group that concluded hundreds of consumer products contain poorly-studied nanoscale materials and a landmark study published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology that suggests some forms of carbon nanotubes could be as harmful as asbestos, which causes lung cancer if inhaled in sufficient quantities.

Though the Nature study points out risks in the fledging nanotech industry, co-author Andrew Maynard says results like the one in his study are good news, if only because they show that carbon nanotubes can be made safe through more research and better regulations. “There’s already a debate occurring about the potential safety issues of nanotech and how to get around them,” says Maynard. "That's a good thing because it's something that hasn't always happened with previous technologies.”

The government and consumer groups are already considering strengthening safety standards, while research into the effects of the young industry has just begun. Maynard stresses that consumers should be cautious, rather than overly concerned, when using products made with nanomaterials. “This is very clearly a technology that can be used for tremendous good,” he says. “People just need to be smart enough to ask the right questions about how they can use it safely.”

http://www.mnn.com/the-home/household-products/stories/is-nanotechnology-friend-or-foe