Unfamiliar Exposure
Insurance Networking News, November 2006
The potential of nanotechnology is reflected by the amount of revenue currently projected for these technologies, between $1 trillion and $2 trillion within the next 10 to 15 years. And just in time, because according to World Resources 2000 and United Nations press releases, within the next 50 years-less than one lifetime-the world population is expected to grow by 50%, world economic activity is expected to grow 500% and world energy and materials use is expected to grow by 300%.
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As optimistic as researchers may be, growing evidence suggests that nanoparticles - the building blocks of nanotechnology and the tiniest of materials ever engineered and produced - may pose environmental, health and safety risks, which in turn engenders the concern of the insurance and reinsurance industry.
ROLE OF INSURANCE TO EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
By helping businesses manage the risks associated with product development and deployment, the insurance industry has always been an "enabler" of new technology, an aspect often overlooked by the industry and its detractors. Consequently, if the insurance industry is to support these new nanotechnologies, while not incurring major long-term losses, the industry must be able to assess potential property damage, bodily injury to workers and the public, and the environmental liabilities associated with businesses handling and using nanomaterials.
To be able to make such assessments the insurance industry needs to become educated (see "What is Nanotechnology") and:
* Understand nanomaterials and nanotechnologies, and have access to accurate data and information that permit a quantifiable evaluation of the probability and severity of losses;
* Operate in a regulated environment so there are controls over the use and disposal of harmful nanomaterials.
UNDERSTANDING THE RISK
Although there are currently only a limited number of products in the marketplace that contain engineered nanomaterials, the pace of nanotechnology development ensures that this will not be the case for long. Consequently, industry, government and insurers are concerned about the associated environmental, health, and safety impact and are working together to develop a better understanding of nanomaterial's properties and risks.
Some of the special features of nanomaterials that allow for positive, useful properties also give rise to a number of unknown exposures:
* Size of particles. The extremely small size of nanoparticles makes them incapable of being measured by most current techniques.
* Increased reactivity. Nanoparticles are more reactive than are particles larger in size. As such, materials that have been benign in the past may become reactive and potentially toxic in nanoparticle form.
* Routes of exposure. Because of their size, nanoparticles can be inhaled, ingested and may even enter the body through the skin.
To predict the health risks associated with nanomaterials, facts such as routes of exposure, the number of particles actually absorbed, movement of materials once they enter the body, and their impact on the body's regulatory and defense systems must be known. Adequate information is not yet available to determine with any certainty whether, or how, nanomaterials can affect our health.
Because nanoparticles behave differently from larger particles, concerns are being expressed about whether they can pollute the air, water supply or damage crops during processes that release these particles into the air, soil or water.
In the short term, the major health and safety risks will be to researchers in laboratories and production staff exposed during the manufacture of nanomaterials.
People in these occupations must be made aware of the potential hazards of using materials having unknown properties and must take measures to mitigate their risks. However, their activities are currently contained and generally do not pose a threat to the public or to the environment.
STATUS OF REGULATION
Regulators in the United States and elsewhere around the world assert that nanoparticles represent an entirely new risk and, therefore, it is necessary to carry out an extensive analysis of the risk. Such studies can then form the basis for government and international regulations.
Existing regulations may prove to be grossly inadequate for the task of providing a safe environment in a world of nanotechnology products.
In a white paper issued on its concerns about nanotechnology, the EPA asserts that to assess the risk of exposure to nanomaterials, their fate in air, water and soils must be understood. That is, diffusion and dispersion rates, agglomeration, wet and dry deposition, gravitational settling, solubility and mobility are examples of some of the parameters required to apply EPA's current environmental fate and transport models. Even the applicability of the fate and transport models themselves has been brought into question, since there is so little experimental data on nanomaterials.
The Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) has promulgated regulations relating to exposure to certain ultrafine particles, which are defined as having dimensions of less than 100 nanometers, making them essentially identical to nanoparticles. Unfortunately, most industrial workplace regulations are based on data relating to larger particle sizes, microns, hence regulations for ultrafine/nanoparticles may be useless.
Because nanoproducts are still very limited in the marketplace, population exposure is likewise limited at this time. However, that may soon change.
Commenting on the EPA white paper, the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) in January of this year alleged that although research and development is critical at this stage, there must be an effort to create an appropriate foundation for environmental, health and safety (EHS) governance related to nanotechnologies.
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