Don't Eat the Nanos!

Don’t Eat The Nanos!

By Elizabeth Szlek


For The Rome Observer, September 6, 2010



Some time ago I mentioned that drug companies were figuring out ways to detect whether someone had taken their pills or not, so that they could monitor people taking various medications. This was pretty disturbing, at the time, because it awakened all the “Police State” scenarios bobbing in my head. I pictured Big Brother waving some wand and determining that some hapless mental patient was being coerced into taking a deadly drug, and now, no amount of sleight of hand could save him or her from being found out as a resister. The pills could talk, and tell the whole story. That was my little personal nightmare version – or so I thought.

Turns out: That was just exactly what Big Pharma had in mind, and now, the product of their dreams is becoming more a reality every day. The tool to deliver the Big Brother pills? Nanotechnology. You know, the technology everyone around here is furiously trying to make into our next “big thing”. Maybe we should take a closer look at this new scientific wonder, before we jump into the nano pool.

What is a Nano--?

Of course, there is no such thing as a nano, because “nano” is merely a prefix denoting a fraction. In this case 10-9, or ten to the negative ninth power. This means that anything with the prefix “nano-“ represents a BILLIONTH of something. So, these very, very tiny particles are a billionth of the size of regular particles. In a word: Small. And therein lies the rub. Just like with genetically modified foods or soy burgers, or other demented products men had never tasted for millennia, nano particles have never been taken into human bodies before. And, just as when someone takes a psychotropic drug, for example, NO ONE KNOWS WHAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN THEY DO!

I spent the last two days reading a fabulous book which I will talk about in much greater detail in another article, but suffice it to say, when the white man and his white flour and white sugar arrive in any previously untainted culture, from the Eskimos to the Maori, from the Masai to the Scots, what follows is a complete degeneration of the human body. And now, we have the latest assault on our bodies: Nanotechnology.

There are so many things wrong with this picture, one hardly knows where to begin, but, here goes!

What Could Go Wrong?

Of course, there are many applications for nanotechnology, and not all of them involve ingesting the particles. If we look at some of the ways they are being used, we see the aforementioned use of nano-encrypted barcodes in patented drugs. The ostensible reason for this inclusion in a medicine is to see if the patient has taken it when directed. Of course, we must look to another, much more important reason for the use of nanotechnology here: Drug companies can find out if someone is counterfeiting their patented products, and go after them. I think this motive is by far the more salient one, don’t you? Who cares if Grandma misses her Percodan? But if Granny is buying hot copies of Percodan on the corner, Big Pharma wants to know! With nanotechnology, they will know!

Here are other current uses for nanotechnology: Sunscreens, food packaging, fabric protectors and other uses. You have probably used products in which nanoparticles are included. Since the particles are so very tiny, they behave differently that the “big” particles, and they have unique properties. Unfortunately, while there is a raging development of new uses being churned out daily across the planet, as usual, science is slow to test these new wonders for their affects on the human body. And, we may all be the losers if it turns out these bits are deadly. Of course, some results in this direction are already trickling in, and the news doesn’t look good.

For example, one type of nanoparticle, called a fullerene, which is used in the electronics industry, changed the entire physiology of the fish which were exposed to it. In two days, at an exposure rate of 0.5 parts per million, the brains of the fish suffered significant brain damage. That was in 2004. Have you heard about it? I hadn’t, until yesterday. Another study which came out in 2007 found that nanoparticles of iron are toxic to nerve cells and nerve function. We all know that our bodies use and need a certain amount of iron, but our cells do not know how to handle the nanoparticles, because they are a novel substance for which our bodies have no method of control.

One of the researchers on that study ruefully admitted that nanoparticles “may not be as safe as we had once thought”. Was that factoid beamed out at you? I never heard it.

Human brains have a wonder protective mechanism called the blood-brain barrier. Many harmful substances are kept from entering the brain, where they would do much harm. Nanoparticles are so small that they can cross this protective barrier and wreak havoc in our brains. Worse yet, these particles are highly reactive with other chemicals, and they cause the proliferation of harmful free radicals, which many of you know cause many degenerative diseases. In addition, some diseases are caused by small breaks in the blood-brain barrier, but the nanoparticles can get through anyone’s intact blood-brain barrier, leading to potentially devastating consequences.

Eating and Breathing Nanos

It is not hard to imagine that if nanoparticles are used in food packaging, food films and containers or other storage materials, they will transfer into the food they are touching. While their uses include killing bacteria and increasing shelf life, it is obvious that they may be lessening our own shelf life, and killing us, instead. If you are consuming lots of food in packages, you are probably getting a much larger dose than those who stick to foods without plastic packaging.

And, for you “health nuts” taking “nutraceuticals”, I have to tell you that nanoparticles can be found in many vitamins and supplements to supposedly improve nutrient assimilation and delivery. Ya just can’t trust anyone, can you?

And, of course, no one is even mentioning the fact that those who work to produce foods and products laced with nanoparticles are no doubt breathing them into their lungs, or absorbing them through their skins or through their mouths. Are these workers being decontaminated after every shift? Does OSHA have guidelines for this technology? Before we bring this industry to our area, let’s make sure our natives are not going to go the way of asbestos workers, or miners, and develop horrific conditions due to exposure to these toxins.

In a word, science again has raced ahead of common sense. Do we really need this stuff to live better lives? The jury is still out, but it isn’t looking too good from where I’m sitting.



Elizabeth Szlek is the Director of The Door Counseling Center of Utica, NY. Questions and comments can be directed to her at (315) 768-8900 or at info@thedoorcounseling.com.