German Insurance giant Allianz have teamed up with the OECD to take another look at nanotechnologies from the viewpoint of risk asessment. While much of the content of the report will be familiar to anyone following nanotechnologies, and some of the recommendations eerily reminiscent of those of the European Commission, it does provide an excellent overview. While calling, as ever, for more research, it cautions against a broad brush approach to nanotechnologies, something that investors would also do well to heed.
“… it seems neither feasible nor appropriate to start a debate about a general exclusion of nanotechnologies from the insurance coverage today. There are several arguments for this:
nanotechnologies cover a very broad field with far from uniform risk characteristics,
the terminology used in nanotechnologies is very broad. No uniform language or set of definitions exist,
the sheer variety of nanotechnologies and their applications across broad sections of industrial segments mean a positive diversification effect for insurance portfolios,
the exposure of the general population to nanotechnologies is still comparatively low.”
So far so good, but the sting is in the tail with the caution but all this does not rule out specific applications such as the use of nanoparticles in environmental remediation from being subject to more intense risk analysisand possibly even being excluded from cover.
Before we get too gloomy and find our nanotech insurance premiums looking like those of a seventeen year old with a Golf GTI, there is a positive side to the risk assessment. Nanotechnologies are very different from the oft quoted parallel with asbestos, not only for the reasons highlighted above but simply because we now have the tools and the risk awareness to start worrying about downstream consequences before we widely deploy the materials. From the Royal Society through Swiss Re to Allianz, the potential risks are being identified, if not yet quantified, and that has to be a good thing.