Brazilian Commission to “Terminate” Seeds This Week
Submitted by Joëlle Deschambault on
After promising on World Food Day (October 16) to block legislation that would legalize the planting of Terminator seeds in Brazil, the country’s Judicial Commission is set to approve suicide seeds as a Christmas gift to Monsanto, DuPont and Syngenta.
Lancement d’une compétition pour donner un nom à la vanille biosynthétique
Submitted by Joëlle Deschambault on
Le Groupe ETC et les Amis de la Terre lancent une compétition publique de design et de dénomination afin de tourner les projecteurs sur la présence de produits issus de la biologie synthétique (manipulation génétique extrême) dans nos aliments. Faites preuve de créativité et aidez-nous à dénoncer un nouvel ingrédient tout sauf naturel arrivant sur les marchés près de chez vous, ainsi que les effets négatifs probables pour les petits producteurs de vanille.
Competition Launch to ‘Brand’ Synthetic Biology Vanilla
Submitted by Joëlle Deschambault on
ETC Group and Friends of the Earth are launching a public design and branding competition to shine a spotlight on synthetic biology (extreme genetic engineering) in our food. Use your creativity to help us expose the very un-natural new ingredient coming to a confection near you, and what it means for vanilla farmers.
Climate Summit: Don't turn farmers into 'climate smart' carbon traders!
Submitted by Veronica Villa on
Farmers produce food, not carbon. Yet, if some of the governments and corporate lobbies negotiating at the UN climate change conference to be held in Warsaw from 11-22 November have their way, farmland could soon be considered as a carbon sink that polluting corporations can buy into to compensate for their harmful emissions.
Cumbre climática: no conviertan a los campesinos en traficantes de carbono
Submitted by Veronica Villa on
Los campesinos y campesinas producen alimentos, no carbono. No obstante, si se salen con la suya algunos de los grupos de cabildeo de las corporaciones y los gobiernos que negocian en la conferencia de cambio climático que se llevará a cabo en Varsovia entre el 11 y el 22 de noviembre, la tierra de cultivo podría ser considerada como sumidero de carbono que las corporaciones contaminantes pueden comprar para compensar sus dañinas emisiones.
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Recent Blogs
TechReckoning: Flask-Grown Flesh
Submitted by Charlie on
Written for The Ecologist - 20/07/2008
If radical vegan Ingrid Newkirk has her way, the nouvelle cuisine on vegetarian menus in five years time may be a big juicy steak.
Newkirk, founder and president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), has offered a $1 million prize to whoever can scale-up stem cell techniques that grow edible animal tissue – so called lab-grown meat – for a mass market.
Pat Mooney's OP-ED in Toronto Star
Submitted by ETC Group on
Biofuels fuel global food crisis
Toronto Star/star.com July 08, 2008
PAT MOONEY
As G8 leaders meet this week in Japan, their ears will still be ringing from the bombshell dropped last week in a leaked World Bank report declaring that biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75 per cent, far higher than previously estimated.
Pat Mooney's Testimony on Biofuels to Canadian Senate
Submitted by Charlie on
Testimony of Pat Mooney
Executive Director of ETC Group
Before the Standing Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources-regarding Bill C-33 (the "Biofuels Bill")
Senate of Canada
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Thank you. I will begin by confessing that I am not an expert on biofuels. I feel as though my life has been hijacked by biofuels over the last few months.
Wrong Response to Food Crisis
Submitted by Charlie on
During the United Nations High-Level Conference on World Food Security, Climate Change and Bioenergy, Rome-based U.N. agencies announced yesterday that a new partnership was struck between the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the World Food Programme (WFP).
Jolly gene giant-a book review of Claire Hope Cummings' "Uncertain Peril"
Submitted by Charlie on
Review by Hope Shand, research director of ETC Group.
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In October 1996, a spokesman for Monsanto told Farm Journal why his company was buying up seed companies left and right: "What you're seeing is not just a consolidation of seed companies, it's really a consolidation of the entire food chain."
Missing vowel competition
Submitted by Jim Thomas on
Can you spot the missing vowel in this Washington Post headline?!
Md. Scientists Build Bacterial Chromosome
Scientists in Maryland yesterday said they had built from scratch an entire microbial chromosome, a loop of synthetic DNA carrying all the instructions that a simple cell needs to live and reproduce...
Too small to be beautiful? Organic Pioneer says No to Nano
Submitted by Jim Thomas on
Now that you can drive your ‘nano’ car, listening to your ipod ‘nano’ while wearing ‘nano’ sunscreen and ‘nano’ clothing, the UK’s largest organic certifier has just introduced the perfect nano-antidote - a ‘nano-free’ standard for consumer products. The Soil Association – one of the world's pioneers of organic agriculture announced today that it is has banned human-made nanomaterials from the organic cosmetics, foods and textiles that it certifies.
Cloned Meat Safe! Uncloned Meat Unsafe!
Submitted by Kathy Jo Wetter on
On January 15, 2008, these two headlines shared the same Google News page. What's wrong with this picture?
"F.D.A. Says Cloned Animals Safe to Eat"
and
"188000 Pounds Of Tainted Beef Recalled"
Synthia Gets a Shotgun - Goodbye genetic engineering?
Submitted by Jim Thomas on
What do ocean-going yachts, space-traveling bacteria and synthetic life have in common? J. Craig Venter, of course. The self-styled genome tycoon has been busy pushing the boundaries on what may appear at first glance to be unrelated enterprises. Nothing could be further from the truth. A suite of recently uncovered patent applications lodged by Venter and his colleagues reveal not only an attempt to grab ownership over much of synthetic biology (see news release) but also a breathtakingly bold business plan for producing millions of new synthetic organisms per day. At the heart of this are plans for a new, automated process enabling rapid assembly of complete synthetic genomes - plans that, if realised, could render current genetic engineering techniques quaint and obsolete. Venter calls it "homologous in vitro recombination" or "combinatorial genomics." ETC suggests it might be properly dubbed "shotgun synthesis" and it has the potential to blast apart current biotech practice.
La Comisión de Medio Ambiente de Brasil rechaza la tecnología Terminator
Submitted by Silvia Ribeiro on
Esteriliza las semillas y amenaza la agricultura familiar y las costumbres tradicionales Este jueves fue desestimado por la Comisión de Medio Ambiente de la Cámara de Diputados, por 15 votos a 4, el Proyecto de Ley 268/2007 —redactado por el diputado federal Eduardo Sciarra (DEM – PR)— que busca modificar la Ley de Bioseguridad para liberar los transgénicos que utilizan Tecnologías Genéticas de Uso Restringido (TRUG), más conocidas como semillas Terminator (semillas estériles.) El proyecto pretendía liberar la investigación y patentamiento de estas semillas estériles.