Although CRN focuses mainly on molecular manufacturing, since it is the most perilous form of nanotechnology in the long run, this story on nanoscale technologies deserves a mention.
The Investor Environmental Health Network has issued a report on eight loopholes that companies can use to avoid disclosing dangerous-chemical risk to shareholders - in some cases, right up to the point that the company goes bankrupt. It makes the interesting point that, not only do current regulations encourage companies not to disclose risk, but a company that chooses not to disclose risk is better off not even studying risk - if they don't know, then it's harder to fault them for not telling.
I found this report when someone (thanks, Paul!) sent me a link to a story about it. The story is interesting in its own right. It opens with the claim that the report "warns that billions of dollars in potential asbestos-like litigation risks for nanotechnology companies and investors are now hidden due to weak regulations governing disclosures of liabilities."
I read the report, and then searched for the word "billion" to make sure: I did not find any dollar value, or any survey that would support a dollar value, for risks tied to nanotechnology. The report certainly shows how such risks might be hidden. And it shows how such risks were hidden for asbestos.
And nanoparticles of various types are discussed as potential health hazards. But the report does not give any risk numbers for nanotech - not in the summary, not in the body, and not in the appendix.
My takeaway: It's quite possible - one might even say likely - that health risks related to nanoparticles are being under-studied and under-reported. The report argues that such under-reporting is encouraged by the current regulatory structure - I'm not a lawyer, but the argument (with comparison to history) seems fairly strong. But at least one story about the report went too far, extrapolating claims that the report simply didn't make. When reading about nanotech, you can't always trust summaries and first impressions.
Nice post, thanks for referring me to the report. Negative externalities in every economic activity are always ex-ante.
Posted by: Mohamad Afghani | June 29, 2009 at 04:19 PM
The Swiss Federal Office of Public Health seems to be the first country to publish a raster to help the industry to better estimate potential harm of nanomaterials.
More information about the precautionary matrix for synthetic nanomaterials can be found here: http://www.bag.admin.ch/themen/chemikalien/00228/00510/05626/index.html?lang=en#
Posted by: Samuel Halim | July 13, 2009 at 10:52 AM