Nanotechnology - Spotlights on Swiss Re's perspective
Opportunities: Nanotechnology has become a major engine for economic growth. Key drivers for investment are a growing demand for energy, clean water, health care, healthy and durable food, as well as better, cheaper and more durable consumer goods. Although forecasting is highly uncertain, the U.S. National Science Foundation has estimated that by 2015 one trillion USD worth of products will use some form of nanotechnology. At present, an annual growth of 30% is suggested, with the market expanding at an even faster rate from 2010 onwards.
Risks: While many properties of nano-enhanced materials provide benefits to consumers, others raise serious (health) concerns. For example, at nanoscale, materials present enormous surface areas and become highly reactive. There are concerns that accidentially released nanoparticles, once taken up, may create chronic inflammation or cause long term effects through accumulation and deposition in the body. But although size matters with respect to negative health effects, potential risk is not a function of minute size and shape alone. Unique novel material properties are as crucial.
Knowledge gaps: Knowledge about the possible long term implications is still in its infancy. Not surprisingly, nanomaterials have been compared with Asbestos. However, Swiss Re believes that conclusions from structural analogies between some prominent nanomaterials and Asbestos fibres alone would cut too short. Key are rather lessons learned, i.e. improved methods and procedures that help to identify the point in time where enough evidence is given to allow early action to protect from devastating effects.
Institutional and regulatory deficits: Due to a lack of a practical and legally binding definition of “nano”, regulation so far does not distinguish between “old” (bulk) and “new” (nanosized) material. In addition, institutional structures and processes continue to be fragmented with respect to fact finding, prioritization, regulation, and legislation. Current measures deal mostly with cause-and-effect of single events, and not with the impact of a technology over its life cycle, or its secondary or interactive effects. Thus, differences in national policies, hurdles for harmonization and diverging interests complicate international coordination and a universal approach to risk governance.
Governance and standardization: The deficits mentioned above are presently addressed by countless initiatives and action plans, both on supranational and national, as well as private levels: National authorities take efforts to adapt risk appraisal requirements and procedures. Endeavors in the private sector are orientated towards self-policing agreements, including voluntary codes of conduct, contractual restrictions and best practice in the workplace. And international organisations take efforts to e.g. establish standards and norms. But despite this wide range of activities, it is still a long way to effective risk governance.
Dialogue and collaboration: Swiss Re believes that all parties with an interest or stake in safe nanoproducts must intensify dialogue and collaboration, to develop risk governance rules and adapt institutional and regulatory gaps where necessary. We thus advocate international coordination and support multistakeholder organisations like the International Risk Governance Council (IRGC) or the International Council on Nanotechnology (ICON). In order to support risk dialogue with the public, Swiss Re was also actively involved in the Publifocus initiative by the Swiss Centre for Technology Assessment (TA-Swiss) and sponsored the information brochure "Know Your Nano!"
