Nanoparticles

Beyond Asbestos: Autoimmunity, Pollution, and Particles

Published: Aug 13, 2014

By Nancy Walsh, Senior Staff Writer, MedPage Today

Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Dorothy Caputo, MA, BSN, RN, Nurse Planner

Action Points

• There is some evidence that particulate air pollution may influence risk for and expression of autoimmune disease.
• A particular role for nanoparticles in human disease has not been established.

Recently, I wrote an article about some interesting research being done by Jean Pfau, PhD, of Idaho State University suggesting that workers who had been exposed to asbestos at the now-shuttered Zonolite mine in Montana were developing an as-yet undescribed autoimmune condition characterized by severe pain and restricted breathing.

Shortly thereafter, I received a phone call from Graham Cliff, PhD, of the University of Manchester in England, who has been a materials scientist for 40 years specializing in the health hazards of minute particles, including asbestos. He told me that the dangers of particle exposure extend far beyond asbestos, and suggested that I look into the effects of both air pollution and the emerging scientific discipline of nanoparticles, in which ultrafine particles are engineered for specific mechanical and biochemical properties./.../