Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.

The insurance industry is out in front on nanotechnology yet again.  As the giant reinsurer Swiss Re did way back in May 2004 with its groundbreaking report Nanotechnology: Small matter, many unknowns, it is once again the insurance industry sounding an early alarm about nanomaterials.  In this case, it's the Continental Western Insurance Group (CWG), which has just announced that it will exclude coverage for "the, as of yet, unknown and unknowable risks created by the products and processes that involve nanotubes." Read more »

Cal Baier-Anderson, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist.

I have just finished reading yet another depressing/infuriating publication by the Woodrow Wilson Center's Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies. The new report delineates the many limitations faced by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in addressing nanotechnology health risks.  The law governing the CPSC has significant weaknesses that prevent it from meeting critical needs, such as constraints on the ability to collect data, require reporting of known hazards, order recalls and promulgate mandatory safety standards.

Read more »