Nano's Troubled Waters: Latest toxic warning shows nanoparticles cause brain damage in aquatic species and highlights need for a moratorium on the release of new nanomaterials

A new study revealing that engineered carbon molecules known as "buckyballs" cause brain damage in fish is one more brick in the wall of evidence suggesting that manufactured nanoparticles are harmful to the environment and to health. The results of the study highlight the urgency to heed ETC Group’s 2002 call for a moratorium on manufactured nanoparticles in commercial products and they back up last month’s recommendation by the Institut für ökologische Wirtschaftforschung – in a report commissioned by the European Parliament – that nanoparticles should not be released into the environment.