Campaigners in the US are attempting to delay the start-up of the world's most powerful particle smasher with a lawsuit claiming it could spawn dangerous particles or mini black holes that will destroy the entire Earth. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is nearing completion at CERN, the European centre for particle physics near Geneva, Switzerland. Scientists hope it will begin operations in mid-July.
Campaigners in the US are attempting to delay the start-up of the world's most powerful particle smasher with a lawsuit claiming it could spawn dangerous particles or mini black holes that will destroy the entire Earth.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is nearing completion at CERN, the European centre for particle physics near Geneva, Switzerland. Scientists hope it will begin operations in mid-July.
On 21 March, Luis Sancho, from Spain, and Hawaii resident Walter Wagner filed a lawsuit in Hawaii's US District Court against CERN and US contributors to the project demanding that they do not operate the LHC until they prove it is safe. The US contributors named are the Department of Energy (DoE), the National Science Foundation and Fermilab, an accelerator laboratory near Chicago.
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The DoE and Fermilab will not comment on the case, insisting it is a legal matter to be dealt with by the Department of Justice.
The lawsuit's claims are "complete nonsense", James Gillies, a spokesman for CERN, told New Scientist. "The LHC will start up this year, and it will produce all sorts of exciting new physics and knowledge about the universe," he said, adding: "A year from now, the world will still be here."
