The glacial pace with which governments started to regulate asbestos use has put thousands of lives in jeopardy and it’s a disaster that we could do with not repeating. But while asbestos is yesterday’s construction material, a new substance being heralded as the building material of tomorrow has the potential to cause similar health risks – carbon nanotubes.

A new study suggests that carbon nanotubes can cause asbestos-like damage if they are injected into the bodies of mice. The results are cause for concern but not panic. The study didn’t show that the nanotubes can build up in body cavities of their own accord, nor if this damage would eventually result in the mesotheliomas that asbestos can cause. It does