Nanotubes are to Asbestos as Litigation is to Litigation
PointOfLaw Forum:
Here’s a scientific study with legal implication for business: “Carbon nanotubes introduced into the abdominal cavity of mice show asbestos-like pathogenicity in a pilot study.” Published last week in the journal, “Nature Nanotechnology,” the report prompted a rash of news coverage, which from what we’ve seemed, carried a reasonable sense of balance, caution and caveats.
The basic finding was that long carbon nanotubes — in contrast to the short or curly ones — created conditions in mice abdomen that resembled lesions that lead to mesothelioma in humans.
Prominently featured in all was the study’s coauthor, Andrew Maynard, a physicist and chief science adviser to the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington. In The New York Times, Maynard said, “I think there is clear evidence for caution in how they are used and handled.” He told The Los Angeles Times that…