[exDM69]

Formula 1 and other open wheel racing drivers have been exposed to carbon fiber dust (from the carbon-carbon brakes) for a few decades now. There is some research going on with former racing drivers.

E.g. former F1 driver Mika Salo underwent surgery where his lungs were examined to assess the effects of repeated exposure to burned carbon fiber dust (this was several years ago). Unfortunately, I do not have any links to sources nor do I know the results of the research.

Another big question mark is the health and environmental effects of graphene. There is a lot of research going on in applications of graphene but only now there have been research projects into possible negative effects on the environment.

[MrBuddyCasino]

Here is something: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/41211...

Apparently the surgery was unrelated, they found lots of carbon brake dust in his lungs purely by chance. No conclusion on whether it is dangerous or not.

Edit: grahamel was quicker :)

[exDM69]

I recall him telling (in a Finnish commentary for a F1 race broadcast) that he went to another surgery to examine the carbon fiber dust in his lungs. But this was almost 10 years ago, I can't remember the specifics.

[nodata]

Can you wash the carbon fiber dust out of the lungs?

[lifeisstillgood]

Washing air-breathing lungs with water sounds problematic, although with fluro-carbons and the prevalence of lung cancer I am not going to say no-one hasn't tried !

[ars]

You could wash one lung at a time. Or use extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

Water in an of itself won't hurt lungs as long as the patient gets enough oxygen.

[kleim]

"Water in an of itself won't hurt lungs"

Yes it does: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drowning#Secondary_drowning

If you ever get saved from near drowning, you are still not safe.

[FreeFull]

I imagine you would have to use saline rather than plain water to avoid the lung cells bursting due to osmosis.

[grahamel]

I remember this. Article link http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/41211...

[VLM]

One minor statistical problem is I googled around for mesothelioma and it looks like when tens of millions are exposed, roughly about thousands die per year, about 20-40 years after exposure. So if you have a population of maybe 1000 total drivers after thirty or so years you'll have maybe one die per year. Or so.

Another problem with the disease is the proverbial 18 year old apprentice steamfitter could die of lung cancer in his relatively young late 40s which is epidemiologically very interesting and easy to detect. There are some young 20-something F-1 drivers who are barely old enough to drink booze, but if a 40 year old driver finally today inhales "the" fiber that would kill him 40 years later, that is rather moot if he dies at 65 of a totally unrelated heart attack or 70 of an unrelated cancer.

So there are two problems: There are not many possible victims resulting in perhaps less than one cancer as a result, and some of the drivers are "really old" by SV programmer standards and the cancer is really slow to kill, so they'll die long before the cancer takes hold.

So... by analogy, if smoking pot will kill me from lung cancer in 30 years, that is rather motivational when told to 10 year olds, but I don't think it'll discourage many new social security recipients from taking up the pipe. In fact that sounds like a fun idea to me.

[rjsw]

It won't just be drivers though, anyone in the pits will be exposed to brake dust, maybe even the spectators.

[VLM]

You are correct although it rapidly turns into a square/cube law scaling problem. I have spent many thousands of working hours fifteen miles downwind of a F1 track but the dilution factor is immense. Also time factors in that the track I work downwind of only races once a year but drivers work all year. (although there are minor races all year, which may involve CF material vehicles)

Mechanics specializing in brake work are likely at very high exposure and "should be" dying at a dramatically higher rate than drivers or anyone else. But I haven't heard of anything like that.

[at-fates-hands]

I would also assume people working in the cycling industry who've been working with carbon fiber for decades would have the same exposure. The first carbon fiber frame was made in 1975:

http://www.jimlangley.net/ride/bicyclehistorywh.html (its at the bottom of the page in the timeline)

As with all manufacturing processes, I'm pretty sure in 1975, it wasn't nearly as precise or safe it is now and am wondering how many people were exposed to these fumes. If you wanted a good control group, I'd think they would be a prime candidate to examine the effects of this on the lungs.

[Vik1ng]

I guess there is a point that the dust will always be around the car.

But while driving it does not look like the driver would be affected by it: http://www.ozeninc.com/images/hpc-carmesh-2.jpg

[Someone1234]

They're racing against other cars, cars to the right, cars to the left, cars in front. I don't see what the aerodynamic profile is meant to inform us?

[Karunamon]

If I were to hazard a guess: the fact that air is directed over and around the driver's compartment would mean that at racing speeds, someone around or in front of your car releasing an aerosol would mean you're unlikely to be exposed to it