A Chinese Team Raises The Alarm, Showing For The First Time That Nanoparticles Are Clinically Toxic To Humans. medicalnewstoday. August 19, 2009. Nanotechnologies are producing impressive results in an ever increasing number of sectors and their market could reach a value of 200 billion euros in 2010. However, the nanoparticles on which they are based pose a serious risk to the lungs, even more so than the notorious ultrafine particles present in air pollution. This is the groundbreaking message of the Chinese study published in the forthcoming issue of the European Respiratory Journal (ERJ), the scientific peer-reviewed publication of the European Respiratory Society.[ See ]