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Allianz praises nanotechnology plan

Allianz Australia is leading the applause for the Federal Government’s new plan to develop a $21.5 million National Nanotechnology Strategy. It is hoped the strategy will help establish a regulatory framework for the development of nanotechnology applications.

Allianz Australia – whose parent company has been taking a deep interest for several years in the risks associated with nanotechnology – has congratulated the Government on its “forward-looking” approach.

GM Corporate Affairs Nicholas Scofield says transformation of the economy and society brought about by nanotechnology in the 21st century will match the industrial revolution in the 19th century and the IT revolution in the 20th.

Allianz and the OECD have produced a joint report on nanotechnologies which forecast sales of nanotechnology products will rise from less than 0.1% of global manufacturing output in 2005 to 15% in 2014.

The report found much uncertainty about risks associated with nanotechnology and said it will take years for studies of the effects on human health and the environment to reach conclusive results.

Mr Scofield says it is important to determine how underwriters and risk engineers should deal with critical issues such as direct exposure to nanoparticles or their release into the environment.

“The Government’s nanotechnology strategy will put in place the underpinnings for the research that is needed into the health and environmental effects of nanotechnologies.”