Let's wait to be afraid of nanoparticles
Professor, Doctor of Sciences, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Evgeny Gudilin (left) answered the questions of TV presenters (right) in today's edition of the program "Morning of Russia", in the story "Expert: it is not worth considering all nanoparticles as poison in advance".
It turned out well: scientists and other intelligent people on television often manage to make complete idiots (the most striking recent example is the program about V. Skulachev on the RT channel).
Below is a transcript of the main content of the plot, given on the Vesti website, and for the particularly curious – its full video recording.
It is still unclear how nanotechnology, which has been widely used everywhere lately, affects our health. No less attention is being paid to this issue now than to the nanodevelopments themselves. Evgeny Gudilin, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Materials Sciences of Moscow State University, spoke more on this topic on the air of "Morning of Russia".
People are usually afraid of what they don't understand. Unfortunately, the field related to the analysis of the effect of nanoparticles on health is not very developed yet. Nanotoxicology, an industry that deals with such things, is very relevant now, the expert notes.
"Any nanoparticle is a fairly dispersed object,– says Gudilin. – And the concentration of silver ions, as a heavy metal, around it is great. This is what influences the development of bacteria and so on. There are also quite active disputes around carbon nanotubes."
There is, according to the scientist, another example. One of the best tanning creams includes titanium dioxide nanoparticles. After 15 minutes of being in the sun, such a cream will be saturated with harmful substances. And if you don't bathe in time, a reaction with the skin will begin.
"Our biologists colleagues once tried to propose a bill that considered all nanomaterials as highly toxic substances (SDYAV). That is, equate them, for example, to potassium cyanide. Of course, this is too much," the expert continues.
"Nanotoxicology is developing intensively. Maybe it will take another five years until there are statistics on the impact of nanoparticles on health. In any case, it is impossible to be afraid in advance of what may not be dangerous. It is impossible to rush to extremes here," concludes Evgeny Gudilin.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru16.02.2011