Independent testing commissioned by Friends of the Earth has found nanoparticles in popular Australian infant formula products that are both illegal in Australia and potentially dangerous. Three of the seven samples tested contained nano-hydroxyapatite particles. Nano-hydroxyapatite has been found to cause cell death in the liver and kidneys of rats and is prohibited from use in infant formula in Australia in any form.

Conservation SA, the state's peak environment body, along with national environment groups Friends of the Earth Australia and the Australian Conservation Foundation, have today lodged a submission with the federal Department of Industry, Innovation and Science calling on the federal government to abandon any plan for a national nuclear waste dump in Kimba.

National environment group Friends of the Earth say the Federal Coalition government's Finkel Review on energy has ignored the latest science on climate change and health impacts from coal pollution.

Friends of the Earth Australia is today releasing a detailed report on the National Radioactive Waste Management Act 2012 (NRWMA). The report ‒ written by Monash University fifth-year law student Amanda Ngo ‒ comes against the backdrop of the federal government's targeting of a site near Hawker in SA's Flinders Ranges for a national radioactive waste store and repository.

Documents released by Friends of the Earth today reveal that:

• Taiwan will not pay SA to accept high-level nuclear waste if that requires investing in waste storage and disposal infrastructure.
  
  
• Taiwan would not send nuclear waste to Australia unless and until a repository is built and operating.
  
  
• Taiwan would not send nuclear waste to Australia in the face of widespread public opposition.

Jakarta, December 8^th The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is being negotiated in Jakarta, Indonesia this week (December 2-10 [i]. If signed, RCEP would grant corporations the exclusive right to bypass domestic legal systems and sue governments at international tribunals whenever they feel government regulation can limit their profits[ii].

New research reveals that investors have launched 50 lawsuits at secret international arbitration tribunals against governments negotiating the RCEP agreement for a total of at least $31 billion US dollars.

SA Premier Jay Weatherill's announcement that he plans to continue pursuing his nuclear waste dump plan is a great disappointment to many South Australians and especially to Indigenous people from across the state who said a clear 'no' to the proposal at the recent Citizens' Jury.

The Community Views Report released on Sunday, reflecting a statewide consultation process, found that 53 percent of respondents opposed the plan to import high-level nuclear waste while just 31 percent supported the plan. Over three-quarters of Aboriginal respondents opposed the plan.

As emergency workers assist South Australians with the fallout from a historic storm that knocked down multiple power lines, causing a blackout across the state, national environment organisation Friends of the Earth say the storm is a wake up call to act on climate change and disaster preparedness.

“Playing politics while South Australians deal with an unprecedented natural disaster is dangerous and the community expects better. The facts are that climate change is set to increase the number of extreme weather events, yet ideologues have wasted no time in blaming renewables for the state-wide blackout" said Cam Walker, Friends of the Earth's campaigns coordinator.

New federal energy and environment minister Josh Frydenberg has indicated a significant shift in energy policy for the Coalition. Minister Frydenberg has said that more renewable energy will be required with the decline of coal.

The minister has also called for more gas supplies and suppliers and for gas moratoria to be removed.

Friends of the Earth are encouraged by the positive rhetoric on renewable energy but urge the new minister to support bans on risky onshore gasfield development.

“Mr Frydenberg correctly notes that renewables are not to blame for recent high electricity prices in South Australia” said Cam Walker of Friends of the Earth Australia.

A new report by Friends of the Earth International demonstrates how Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) and Coal Chemical technologies threaten to destabilise the earth’s climate and irreversibly damage local environments.

The report, launched today, comes in the wake of UCG being banned in Queensland, Australia. There is interest in and development of UCG in Europe, Russia, Canada, the US, China and India. It is currently under moratorium in Scotland.