Enormous funds are currently being invested in nanotechnology, yet very little is known about how its products and by-products can interfere with both end users and people involved in their manufacture. Similar scenarios are already widely known in the history of science, such as the exploitation of radioactivity or the controversial issue of genet

Antonietta Morena Gatti is a physicist and bioengineer and the founder and director of the Laboratory of Biomaterials of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Italy). She is the discoverer of the presence of micro- and nanoparticles in biological tissues and of their pathological effects. The European Community appointed her coordinator of the international group in charge of the nanopathology project. She was a keynote speaker on "Depleted Uranium Related Diseases" at the 2005 Audition at the House of Lords in London on the invitation of its president, Lord Morris of Manchester.

Describing the impact of nanoparticles (and microparticles) on human and animal health, this study offers the first criteria for preventing potential problems deriving from these particles. As nanoparticles are more or less voluntarily produced, they are almost uncontrollably disseminated in the environment and in organisms, and thus constitute a growing concern, which this volume addresses.

How the Whole Thing Began or the Logic Path Towards a Discovery. In-Vitro and In-Vivo Biological Behavior of Micro and Nanoparticles. Clinical Cases: Lung, Blood, Liver, Kidney, Digestive System, Vessels, Sperm. Six "Detective Stories". War and Nanoparticles. Nanoparticles in the Environment and Working Places. Nanoparticles in Food, Cosmetics and Other Products. New York 9/11. The Future and Prevention Criteria.