Some 3-D Printing Materials Are Toxic

3-D printers, all the rage in recent years for their ability to simply and affordably create a multitude of items, may have a dark side: New research suggests some of the materials they use are toxic to fish and perhaps other animals as well.

The story began when Shirin Oskui, a graduate student at the University of California, Riverside, used a 3-D printed, custom-shaped disk to help analyze zebra fish embryos in her lab last year. But she discovered that the material killed the baby fish, in very short order.