Remember 'Magic Nano', the German cleaning product that has a lot of people worried about nanoparticles. Well, apparently it doesn't contain any.

Small Times reports that following an analysis of the product by the Verband der Chemischen Industrie (VCI) - the German chemical industry association - a recent meeting of the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) has concluded that there is no 'Nano' in 'Magic Nano'.

It turns out, that there's not all that much 'Magic' either - the analysis also revealed that the product did not contain the active ingredients that it was supposed to!!

Rene Zimmer of the BfR had this to say - ...at the meeting, the manufacturers said that had there not been a recall because of the breathing problems, there would have been complaints because "the stuff didn't do what it was supposed to do."

The many components of the product were manufactured by different companies and now the question of what happened to the active ingredients is being raised.

Nevertheless, Bernd Zimmermann, sales manager of Kleinmann, the company that distributed the product, does not seem to be all that concerned by the saga: "German consumers have a very short memory," he said. "Many haven't even heard about this."

Splendid. That makes it alright then.

Stuart

Stuart Cantrill (Associate Editor, Nature Nanotechnology)