Insurance Industry Teleconference on Swine Flu Pandemic Set ...( BERWYN Pa. May 4 /- Just hours after ...),Health

BERWYN, Pa., May 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Just hours after the World Health Organization warned that a Swine Flu or A/H1N1 pandemic is imminent, a prominent insurance law firm announced it will host a teleconference for insurance executives working to address this urgent global risk.

"As we've seen with everything from asbestos litigation to hurricanes to the current financial crisis, the insurance industry plays an enormously important role in the global economy when disaster triggers losses of almost any kind," said Michael R. Nelson of Nelson Levine de Luca & Horst (www.nldhlaw.com), the chairman of the teleconference. "The possibility of a global Swine Flu outbreak is cause for alarm, and the industry must prepare and adapt to contain losses in the face of this and other pandemics."

Nelson said the objective of the program will be to lend perspective and guidance to listeners from the insurance industry in assessing the legal risks and addressing both their immediate and strategic business needs in the face of pandemics.

Interviewed for A.M. Best's "BestDay" podcast, Nelson said insurers need to study and fully understand pandemics. "I think the most important thing for the industry to do at this point is to learn as much as it can about pandemic issues and responses to them by economies and by governments because the more they know about the situation they are operating in the better they can react to it. Certainly there is potential to overreact to these situations -- not to say that this is not a serious issue, certainly it's affecting a lot of peoples' lives. The industry needs to learn as much as it can about the science and about how this may impact the world we are living in."

Titled "Containing Insurance Losses When Pandemics Strike," this 100-minute program will be held via conference call on May 13. Orders for the recording
'/>"/>