Nanotechnology may be unsafe; new warning issued by Royal Academy of Engineering

• New laws are needed to ensure that vanishingly small particles made by the nanotechnology industry do not pose a threat to humans or the environment, experts said yesterday.
• A government-backed report into nanotechnology from the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society, Britain's most prestigious scientific body, found that while nanotechnology is expected to bring about significant advances in healthcare, transport and electronics, nanoparticles could be a cause for concern.
• Ann Dowling, the Cambridge University professor who chaired the group behind the report, said: "Where particles are concerned, size really does matter.
• Nanotechnology, which describes the manufacture of devices and materials measuring billionths of a metre across, is already used to make nanoparticles for sunscreens and cosmetics.
• In sunscreens, nanoparticles are used because they absorb and reflect UV rays while appearing transparent to the naked eye.
• Concerns surround nanoparticles because they may be inhaled or absorbed through the skin with unforeseen health consequences.
• The report recommends that because they can behave so differently from known materials, nanoparticles, often defined as particles measuring less than 100 billionths of a metre wide, and nanotubes, sheets of molecules wrapped into tiny tubes, should be treated as new substances under European and UK safety legislation.
• To address the lack of understanding of the potential threats of nanoparticles, Prof Dowling called for the government to fund �6m of research into their toxicity and how they may build up in bodies and the environment.
• "Unless a meaningful debate gets under way soon, nanotechnology has the potential to turn into the next GM, with scientists forced to defend themselves against an anti-science backlash.