Time to put the kettle on?

Gold nanoparticles made using chemicals found in tea leaves could be used to combat cancer say US scientists.

Kattesh Katti, Raghuraman Kannan and colleagues at the University of Missouri, Columbia, used phytochemicals (bioactive compounds) from Darjeeling tea to reduce gold salts to gold nanoparticles. The phytochemicals also stabilised the nanoparticles and covered them in a robust and non-toxic coating. Since only natural chemicals are used in this reaction, no toxic waste products are produced, making it a 100 per cent green process, says Katti.

More: http://www.rsc.org/Publishing/ChemScience/Volume/2009/04/put_kettle_on.asp