Emerging Tech

Media Release 27 August 2015

As Tim Flannery launches his new book Atmosphere of Hopeat Melbourne University tonight, Friends of the Earth have warned that geoengineering technologies aren’t a solution to climate change and risk diverting attention from proven solutions.Geoengineering is the deliberate large-scale manipulation of the Earth’s natural systems.

Friends of the Earth, the Ngara Institute, the NTEU, the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) and the National Alliance for Public Universities are co-hosting a conference at the University of Queensland from the 23-24th November – Challenging the Privatised University – that aims to support the revitalisation of the public and intellectual importance of Universities.

A new report released by our agricultural chemicals regulator the Australian Pesticide and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) this week shows that they are still failing to address the risks posed by the use of nanomaterials in agrichemicals. The regulator still claims nanomaterials are not being used in agrichemicals in Australia despite clear evidence to the contrary.

In a stunning example of regulatory capture and ignoring the precautionary principle when it comes to protecting human health, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has decided not to assess the risks of the chemical migration of nanomaterials into food because it doesn’t know enough about them.

As global governments meet to discuss synthetic biology (synbio) at the Convention on Biological Diversity meeting (COP12) in South Korea, Friends of the Earth is calling for a moratorium on the commercial release of synthetically modified organisms (SMOs) until a legally binding international framework for synbio is developed and implemented.

Take Action! Email the Minister for the Environment Greg Hunt and ask him to ensure that Australia supports a precautionary approach to synbio at COP12

For almost a decade the Nanotechnology Project has been fighting for regulation and environmental, health and safety testing that doesn’t lag behind technology development and commercialisation. Too often new innovations aren’t banned or regulated until after they have been proven to be harmful – and even then corporations frequently and fiercely resist regulation.

Published three times a year, Chain Reaction is the national magazine of Friends of the Earth Australia.

The winter 2014 edition is a feature on emerging technologies like nanotechnology, synbio, geoengineering and GMOs.

You can read it here.

22 May 2014

Our new report, Way too little , looks at the now widespread presence of nanomaterials in our food chain and how little Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) is doing to ensure our safety.

What we have found is shocking. There has been a dramatic increase in the use of nanomaterials in food, food additives, supplements, food packaging, food contact materials and agricultural chemicals.

The ACCC has refused to take action against two sunscreen ingredient manufacturers, Antaria and Ross Cosmetics, for misleading conduct, despite clear evidence that the two companies sold nanomaterials as ‘non nano’ and ‘nanoparticle free’. Some of Australia’s biggest sunscreen brands were misled by Antaria and Ross and repeated their non-nano claims - including products such as Cancer Council Classic, Invisible Zinc Junior and Body sunscreens, Coles Sports and Woolworths Clear Zinc.