Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Banning carbon nanotubes would be scientifically unjustified and damaging to innovation

  • Correspondence
  • Published:

From Nature Nanotechnology

View current issue Submit your manuscript

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Hansen, S. F. & Lennquist, A. Nat. Nanotechnol. 15, 3–4 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Feder, B. J. New economy; nanotechnology has arrived; a serious opposition is forming. The New York Times (19 August 2002).

  3. Feder, B. As uses grow, tiny materials’ safety is hard to pin down. New York Times (3 November 2003).

  4. Kermanizadeh, A. et al. J. Toxicol. Environ. Health Part B 19, 1–28 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Kostarelos, K. The long and short of carbon nanotube toxicity. Nat. Biotechnol. 26, 774–776 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Ema, M., Gamo, M. & Honda, K. Regul. Toxicol. Pharmacol. 74, 42–63 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Ali-Boucetta, H. et al. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 52, 2274–2278 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Movia, D., Prina-Mello, A., Bazou, D., Volkov, Y. & Giordani, S. ACS Nano 5, 9278–9290 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Krug, H. F. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 53, 12304–12319 (2014).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Alidori, S. et al. Sci. Transl. Med. 8, 331ra39–331ra39 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Yeh, Y.-T. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. 117, 895–901 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Vitale, F., Summerson, S. R., Aazhang, B., Kemere, C. & Pasquali, M. ACS Nano 9, 4465–4474 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Castagnola, V. et al. Nanoscale Horiz. 2, 187–198 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Rao, R. et al. ACS Nano 12, 11756–11784 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Segawa, Y., Ito, H. & Itami, K. Nat. Rev. Mater. 1, 15002 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Tasis, D., Tagmatarchis, N., Bianco, A. & Prato, M. Chem. Rev. 106, 1105–1136 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. De Volder, M. F. L., Tawfick, S. H., Baughman, R. H. & Hart, A. J. Science 339, 535–539 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. McCauley, M. D. et al. Circ. Arrhythm. Electrophysiol. 12, e007256 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Beyene, A. G. et al. Sci. Adv. 5, eaaw3108 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Ignatova, T., Chandrasekar, S., Pirbhai, M., Jedlicka, S. S. & Rotkin, S. V. J. Mater. Chem. B 5, 6536–6545 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Bai, Y. et al. Nat. Nanotechnol. 13, 589–595 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Jena, P. V. et al. ACS Nano 11, 10689–10703 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Wong, M. H. et al. Nat. Mater. 16, 264–272 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Demirer, G. S. et al. Nat. Nanotechnol. 14, 456–464 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Ceppi, L. et al. ACS Nano 13, 5356–5365 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Galassi, T. V. et al. Sci. Transl. Med. 10, eaar2680 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Gao, Z., Varela, J. A., Groc, L., Lounis, B. & Cognet, L. Biomater. Sci. 4, 230–244 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Pescatori, M. et al. Biomaterials 34, 4395–4403 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Hong, G., Diao, S., Antaris, A. L. & Dai, H. Chem. Rev. 115, 10816–10906 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Alidori, S. et al. PLoS ONE 12, e0183902 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Lam, C.-W. Toxicol. Sci. 77, 126–134 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Poland, C. A. et al. Nat. Nanotechnol. 3, 423–428 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. IARC Working Group on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans. Some Nanomaterials and Some Fibres (International Agency for Research on Cancer, 2017).

  34. Grosse, Y. et al. Lancet Oncol. 15, 1427–1428 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Marques, M. M. et al. Lancet Oncol. 20, 763–764 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Oberdörster, G., Stone, V. & Donaldson, K. Toxicology of nanoparticles: A historical perspective. Nanotoxicology 1, 2–25 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Phillips, E. et al. Sci. Transl. Med. 6, 260ra149–260ra149 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Arami, H., Khandhar, A., Liggitt, D. & Krishnan, K. M. Chem. Soc. Rev. 44, 8576–8607 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  39. Nel, A. E. et al. Nat. Mater. 8, 543–557 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  40. Faria, M. et al. Nat. Nanotechnol. 13, 777–785 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank C. P. Horoszko, A. Klausner, M. T. Manzari, J. Richmond and J. Bartlett for helpful discussions and editorial review.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Molecular Pharmacology Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Daniel A. Heller, Prakrit V. Jena & David A. Scheinberg

  2. Department of Pharmacology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA

    Daniel A. Heller, David A. Scheinberg & Robert E. Schwartz

  3. Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA

    Matteo Pasquali

  4. Department of Chemistry, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA

    Matteo Pasquali, James M. Tour & R. Bruce Weisman

  5. Department of Materials Science and Nanoengineering, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA

    Matteo Pasquali, Junichiro Kono & James M. Tour

  6. Nanomedicine Lab, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

    Kostas Kostarelos

  7. Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), Barcelona, Spain

    Kostas Kostarelos

  8. Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padua, Padua, Italy

    Lucia G. Delogu

  9. Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA

    Rachel E. Meidl

  10. Department of Engineering Science & Mechanics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

    Slava V. Rotkin

  11. Materials Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

    Slava V. Rotkin

  12. Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA

    David A. Scheinberg

  13. Department of Physics, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

    Mauricio Terrones

  14. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    YuHuang Wang

  15. CNRS, UPR3572, Immunology, Immunopathology and Therapeutic Chemistry, University of Strasbourg, ISIS, Strasbourg, France

    Alberto Bianco

  16. Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering (ISIC), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland

    Ardemis A. Boghossian

  17. Department of Physics, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

    Sofie Cambré & Wim Wenseleers

  18. Laboratoire Photonique Numérique et Nanosciences, University of Bordeaux, Talence, France

    Laurent Cognet

  19. Department of Chemical Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia

    Simon R. Corrie

  20. Center for Nanotechnology and Nanotoxicology, Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA

    Philip Demokritou

  21. School of Chemical Sciences, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland

    Silvia Giordani

  22. Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, Julius-Maximilians University Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany

    Tobias Hertel

  23. Nanoscience Department, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA

    Tetyana Ignatova

  24. Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Mohammad F. Islam

  25. Department of Biological Systems Engineering, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA

    Nicole M. Iverson

  26. Department of Bioengineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA

    Anand Jagota

  27. Department of Chemistry, Silesian University of Technology, Gliwice, Poland

    Dawid Janas

  28. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA

    Junichiro Kono

  29. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA

    Junichiro Kono

  30. Department of Chemistry, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany

    Sebastian Kruss

  31. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Markita P. Landry

  32. College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, China

    Yan Li

  33. Département de chimie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada

    Richard Martel

  34. Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Shigeo Maruyama

  35. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX, USA

    Anton V. Naumov

  36. Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche e Farmaceutiche, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy

    Maurizio Prato

  37. Carbon Bionanotechnology Lab, CIC biomaGUNE, San Sebastián, Spain

    Maurizio Prato

  38. Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain

    Maurizio Prato

  39. School of Chemistry, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Susan J. Quinn

  40. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, USA

    Daniel Roxbury

  41. Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Michael S. Strano

  42. Nanomaterials Research Institute, Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan

    Masako Yudasaka

Authors
  1. Daniel A. Heller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Prakrit V. Jena
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Matteo Pasquali
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Kostas Kostarelos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Lucia G. Delogu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Rachel E. Meidl
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Slava V. Rotkin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. David A. Scheinberg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Robert E. Schwartz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Mauricio Terrones
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. YuHuang Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. Alberto Bianco
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  13. Ardemis A. Boghossian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  14. Sofie Cambré
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  15. Laurent Cognet
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  16. Simon R. Corrie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  17. Philip Demokritou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  18. Silvia Giordani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  19. Tobias Hertel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  20. Tetyana Ignatova
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  21. Mohammad F. Islam
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  22. Nicole M. Iverson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  23. Anand Jagota
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  24. Dawid Janas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  25. Junichiro Kono
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  26. Sebastian Kruss
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  27. Markita P. Landry
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  28. Yan Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  29. Richard Martel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  30. Shigeo Maruyama
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  31. Anton V. Naumov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  32. Maurizio Prato
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  33. Susan J. Quinn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  34. Daniel Roxbury
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  35. Michael S. Strano
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  36. James M. Tour
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  37. R. Bruce Weisman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  38. Wim Wenseleers
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  39. Masako Yudasaka
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

All authors contributed to the final manuscript and approved of the final version.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniel A. Heller.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Heller, D.A., Jena, P.V., Pasquali, M. et al. Banning carbon nanotubes would be scientifically unjustified and damaging to innovation. Nat. Nanotechnol. 15, 164–166 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-020-0656-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-020-0656-y

  • Springer Nature Limited

This article is cited by

Search

Navigation