News

Here’s a thought experiment: what if living things were actually machines? What if they were the sort of machines that you could take apart, reprogram, and hack to do something entirely new? Plants that...

Exactly twenty years ago the first genetically modified (GM) food entered commercial use, sparking massive controversy, trade fights and resistance from farmers, consumers and workers worldwide. Now the biotech industry is poised for a...

The July 2014 edition of Chain Reaction – The National Magazine of Friends of the Earth Australia is now available to download.

Climate scientists have watched with mounting alarm as carbon dioxide concentrations have increased relentlessly. The anxiety has deepened each year as it has become clearer that the range of emissions paths mapped out by...

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...

It is precisely Henry Miller’s attitude of leaving policy and technology development to the ‘experts’ that has left us in the position we find ourselves today. The development of nuclear technology has resulted in...

Recent media reports that “nanoparticles in sunscreen are harmless” on the basis of a recently published study don’t reflect the paper’s own conclusions nor the current state of the science. Whilst the results of...

Socks impregnated with nano-silver promise their antibacterial properties will eliminate unpleasant foot odour. Brilliant! That is, until we consider the significant consequences that the use of nano-silver may have on human health and the...

A recent US National Research Council (NRC) report on research into environmental, health and safety (EHS) matters relating to nanomaterials provides a disturbing picture of nanomaterials flooding markets all over the world, but EHS...

A recent report by Health Care Without Harm Europe suggests that existing regulatory frameworks are insufficient to protect human health and the environment from the use of nanotechnology in healthcare. The author of the...