Unknown health impact of nanotech worries some

By Amanda Beck

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Nanotechnology has been hailed as the science of the future, with micro-particles already powering innovations that remove lines from faces, strengthen beer bottles and clean clothing without water.

Yet early studies also indicate some of these particles, enabled by the latest in engineering science, can cause cancer.

"We should recognize that there will be mistakes, and there will be hazards," said Professor Harry Kroto, who won the 1996 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his discovery of a nanoparticle called the Buckminsterfullerene. "On the other had, there's a possibility that the value of nanotechnology will be overwhelming. For me, it is the science of the 21st century."

Nanotechnology is the science of creating and working with materials about one nanometer wide, or one-billionth of a meter. A human hair, by contrast, is about 80,000 nanometers across.

Scientists say working with these particles holds the promise of building miniature machines atom by atom, just as every living thing begins with one cell.

"The big deal here is that we're domesticating atoms. We're trying to make the basic building blocks of our world do our bidding," said Patrick Lin, director of the Nanoethics Group at California Polytechnic State University.

Some scientists are already using nanotechnology to add small particles of silver, long-known as an antibacterial, to razors, food-storage containers, and "anti-fungal" socks.

Others are exploiting unusual properties that appear at the nano-scale. In the laboratory, for example, normal carbon atoms can be fixed into tube-like shapes, called nanotubes, which are 100 times stronger than steel and only one-sixth its weight. Such tampering can bring new lighter power to a golf club.