Tag Archives: Amy J. Clippinger

More from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) about nanomaterials and lungs

Science progress by increments. First, there was this April 27, 2016 post featuring some recent work by the organization, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) focused on nanomaterials and lungs. Now approximately one month later, PETA announces a new paper on the topic according to a May 26, 2016 news item on phys.org,

A scientist from the PETA International Science Consortium Ltd. is the lead author of a review on pulmonary fibrosis that results from inhaling nanomaterials, which has been published in Archives of Toxicology. The coauthors are scientists from Health Canada, West Virginia University, and the University of Fribourg in Switzerland.

A May 26, 2016 PETA news release on EurekAlert, which originated the news item, provides more detail (Note: Links have been removed),

The increasing use of nanomaterials in consumer goods such as paint, building materials, and food products has increased the likelihood of human exposure. Inhalation is one of the most prominent routes by which exposure can occur, and because inhalation of nanomaterials may be linked to lung problems such as pulmonary fibrosis, testing is conducted to assess the safety of these materials.

The review is one part of the proceedings of a 2015 workshop [mentioned in my Sept. 3, 2015 posting] organized by the PETA International Science Consortium, at which scientists discussed recommendations for designing an in vitro approach to assessing the toxicity of nanomaterials in the human lung. The workshop also produced another report that was recently published in Archives of Toxicology (Clippinger et al. 2016) and a review published in Particle and Fibre Toxicology (Polk et al. 2016) [mentioned in my April 27, 2016 posting] on exposing nanomaterials to cells grown in vitro.

The expert recommendations proposed at the workshop are currently being used to develop an in vitro system to predict the development of lung fibrosis in humans, which is being funded by the Science Consortium.

“International experts who took part in last year’s workshop have advanced the understanding and application of non-animal methods of studying nanomaterial effects in the lung,” says Dr. Monita Sharma, nanotoxicology specialist at the Consortium and lead author of the review in Archives of Toxicology. “Good science is leading the way toward more humane testing of nanomaterials, which, in turn, will lead to better protection of human health.”

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Predicting pulmonary fibrosis in humans after exposure to multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) by Monita Sharma, Jake Nikota, Sabina Halappanavar, Vincent Castranova, Barbara Rothen-Rutishauser, Amy J. Clippinger. Archives of Toxicology pp 1-18 DOI: 10.1007/s00204-016-1742-7 First online: 23 May 2016

This paper is behind a paywall.

Study nanomaterial toxicity without testing animals

The process of moving on from testing on animals is laborious as new techniques are pioneered and, perhaps more arduously, people’s opinions and habits are changed. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) organization focusing the research end of things has announced a means of predicting carbon nanotube toxicity in lungs according to an April 25, 2016 news item on Nanowerk (Note: A link has been removed),

A workshop organized last year [2015] by the PETA International Science Consortium Ltd has resulted in an article published today in the journal Particle and Fibre Toxicology (“Aerosol generation and characterization of multi-walled carbon nanotubes [MWCNTs] exposed to cells cultured at the air-liquid interface”). It describes aerosol generation and exposure tools that can be used to predict toxicity in human lungs following inhalation of nanomaterials.

An April 25, 2016 PETA press release on EurekAlert, which originated the news item, explains further without much more detail,

Nanomaterials are increasingly being used in consumer products such as paints, construction materials, and food packaging, making human exposure to these materials more likely. One of the common ways humans may be exposed to these substances is by inhalation, therefore, regulatory agencies often require the toxicity of these materials on the lungs to be tested. These tests usually involve confining rats to small tubes the size of their bodies and forcing them to breathe potentially toxic substances before they are killed. However, time, cost, scientific and ethical issues have led scientists to develop methods that do not use animals. The tools described in the new article are used to deposit nanomaterials (or other inhalable substances) onto human lung cells grown in a petri dish.

Co-authors of the Particle and Fibre Toxicology article are scientists from the PETA Science Consortium , The Dow Chemical Company, Baylor University, and the U.S. NTP Interagency Center for the Evaluation of Alternative Toxicological Methods (NICEATM).

“Promoting non-animal methods to assess nanotoxicity has been a focus of the PETA International Science Consortium”, said Dr. Monita Sharma, co-author of the publication and Nanotechnology Specialist at the Consortium, “we organized an international workshop last year on inhalation testing of nanomaterials and this review describes some of the tools that can be used to provide a better understanding of what happens in humans after inhaling these substances.” During the workshop, experts provided recommendations on the design of an in vitro test to assess the toxicity of nanomaterials (especially multi-walled carbon nanotubes) in the lung, including cell types, endpoints, exposure systems, and dosimetry considerations. Additional publications summarizing the outcomes of the workshop are forthcoming.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Aerosol generation and characterization of multi-walled carbon nanotubes exposed to cells cultured at the air-liquid interface by William W. Polk, Monita Sharma, Christie M. Sayes, Jon A. Hotchkiss, and Amy J. Clippinger. Particle and Fibre Toxicology201613:20 DOI: 10.1186/s12989-016-0131-y Published: 23 April 2016

This is an open access paper.