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Scientists Use Laser Imaging to Assess Safety of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles in Sunscreen

Overlay of the confocal/multiphoton image of the excised human skin. Yellow color represents skin autofluorescence excited by 405 nm; Purple color represents zinc oxide nanoparticle distribution in skin (stratum corneum) excited by 770 nm, with collagen-induced faint SHG signals in the dermal layer. (Credit: Biomedical Optics Express.)

ScienceDaily (Nov. 30, 2011) — Ultra-tiny zinc oxide (ZnO) particles with dimensions less than one-ten-millionth of a meter are among the ingredients list of some commercially available sunscreen products, raising concerns about whether the particles may be absorbed beneath the outer layer of skin. To help answer these safety questions, an international team of scientists from Australia and Switzerland have developed a way to optically test the concentration of ZnO nanoparticles at different skin depths. They found that the nanoparticles did not penetrate beneath the outermost layer of cells when applied to patches of excised skin.

The results, which were published this month in the Optical Society’s (OSA) open-access journalBiomedical Optics Express, lay the groundwork for future studies in live patients.

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Nano Zinc Oxide… Hundreds of Studies Show It’s Safe! Really!

By Bob Root,  Keys Technologist

saturn5One day when I was young, I was reading an issue of Popular Science Magazine with a story about a bold project to put man into space.  I was so excited.  Like many young people, I fantasized about flying in space.  I became an avid follower of early rocket pioneers and awaited the day when the first manned rocket would launch.

A few months before the first test launch was to fire, my mother, in sheer terror, headed for church to join other devoted to pray for the salvation of mankind.  When I asked her what it was about, she exclaimed that “the world will come to an end when that damned rocket punctures the sky.”  …”We have to prepare by praying for our salvation.”  This was a defining moment for me because I did not believe her fears or the need to pray for my salvation. I found this belief so curious and it probably set my life’s course in technology.  I wondered  how people could make stuff up and spin into a mass fear of destruction.
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