ON NANOTECHNOLOGY: The Plastics of the 21st Century? - NOT RECOMMENDED

Robert Blaunstein, NANOTECHNOLOGY: The Plastics of the 21st Century? Guy Carpenter & Co., Inc., 2006 - NOT RECOMMENDED even though I agree with most of it.

This piece discusses nanotechnology from the perspective of insurers.

It mentions covers including product liability, workers compensation, professional liability, and general liability, but it does not detail these.

It warns fear of liability could threat global development though it does not unbundle the claim to make an argument. It mentions coverage will evolve through three steps (1) nanomaterials will be studied, (2) knowledge will grow, and (3) customized covers will be developed and while offering an anecdote involving customized cover for travel and commercial transportation, the customization is underdeveloped.

The piece adds the claim: "there is a definite possibility that the fear stage (referred interchangeable as a phase and not associated directly with step 2 above) will result in some withdrawal by insurers and reinsurers from nanotechnology covers." While an interesting claim, it would have helped to have deeper analysis of the dynamics that might be involved.

Under the proviso of a private market failure, it mentions pools as a option (see Mannina) and liability caps using a formulae like was used under Price Anderson (an argument I made in the December 2006 issues of Nanotechnology Law and Business Journal) though I argue they can work within the quasi-private market as an alternative to heavy handed regulation.

I plan on writing more about nanotechnology, risks, and liability. It all started with bill Joy's article of repute "Why the Future Doesn't Need Us" (Wired) http://www.kurzweilai.net/meme/frame.html?main=/articles/art0681.html.

I suggest if you are interested, read George Mannina on the subject of pools - http://www.wlf.org/upload/120806lbmannina.pdf and Albert Lin on the subject of bonds in Size matters: Regulating Nanotechnology http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=934635 and me on the subject of liability caps “Regulating Nanoscience: A Proposal and a Response to J. C. Davies,” Nanotechnology Law and Business Review, December 2006, 485-506.

Finally, I think the simile between nanotechnology and plastics may be one of the most defensible out there and had hoped it would have been developed, but it wasn't. Unfortunately for all, since we may learn a lot about things nano if we think of it as the next plastics!