The pitfalls of growing nanomaterials

[...]nanomedicine is proving to be the first cutting-edge field to reflect the new realities of modern medicine, opening the door to a new generation of diagnostics with the capability of screening patients for genetic as well as epigenetic glitches associated with the disease, imaging agents and drugs for detecting and treating complex diseases including cancer at its earliest stages (14-17). [...]some researchers have questioned whether nanomedicine is worth the high price tag that accompanies its production: it can cost ten-times more than conventional treatment. Multiple lines (26-29) of evidence support studies examining the effective toxicity of nanoengineered materials in cell cultures and animals have shown that size, surface area, surface chemistry, solubility and possibly shape all play a role in determining the potential to cause toxicity, as a large percentage of their atoms lie on the surface and could therefore be highly reactive and extremely harmful (3). [...]day-by-day calls rise for more effective research on toxicology.