News & blogs

Filter the news by type

Do Not Betray Africa on SynBio and Gene Drives

CSOs urge African governments to support moratorium

As representatives of a broad range of African civil society organisations (CSOs), we do not feel represented by the delegations of Nigeria and South Africa, speaking on behalf of African Group, in their attempt to speak on behalf of the people of Africa on the issue of synthetic biology (synbio) and gene drive organisms (GDOs). 

From Terminator to Exterminator

20 years after suicide seeds, civil society mobilizes in Egypt this week to stop the sequel – Gene Drive Organisms
History repeating
  • It has been twenty years since ETC Group and allies uncovered a US patent on what became known as “Terminator technology” – seeds genetically engineered to stop farmers breeding with them. Civil society and farmer movements protested that these “suicide seeds” would threaten seed-saving practices that are as old as agriculture. 

China’s Plan to Seed Himalayan Clouds Is Geoengineering – Unintentional or Otherwise

“Sky River” on Tibetan Plateau is largest-ever weather modification project, tens of thousands of burning chambers planned

A massive weather modification network – the largest ever — is being planned for the Tibetan Plateau. The plan, according to recent reports, is to cover an area of the size of Spain with thousands of fuel burning chambers (roughly akin to upside-down rockets) to blast silver iodide into the atmosphere, stimulating cloud formation and precipitation.

Over 200 Global Food Movement Leaders and Organizations Reject "Gene Drives"

New Report exposes how a controversial genetic forcing technology is targeting the farm

Rome, 16 October 2018 (World Food Day) – Global food movement leaders and organizations representing hundreds of millions of farmers and food workers today set out their clear opposition to “gene drives” – a controversial new genetic forcing technology. Their call for a stop to this technology accompanies a new report, Forcing the Farm, that lifts the lid on how gene drives may harm food and farming systems. 

» Download the report (pdf)

Immediate stop to climate geoengineering

Demand by 110 civil society organizations and popular movements

Collective press release by ETC Group, the Indigenous Environmental Network, Friends of the Earth International, La Via Campesina, Climate Justice Alliance and BiofuelWatch.

In a widely-supported Manifesto released today, 23 international organizations, six “Alternative Nobel Prize” recipients, and 87 national organizations from five continents called for a halt to testing and political consideration of climate geoengineering.

Patagonia’s bet on biotech fabrics may threaten livelihoods and ecosystems

Farmers and environmentalists sound the alarm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OAKLAND, CA — The fashion and technology sectors alike have been abuzz about high-tech fabrics derived from genetically engineered microorganisms. Most notably, Patagonia Inc. – noted in the past for its support of organic textiles and its opposition to genetic engineering – has surprisingly teamed up with Bay Area based biotech startup Bolt Threads to help propel genetically engineered clothes to market.

Leading African Biodiversity Advocate Denied Canadian Visa Days Before UN Forum

As international debate on gene drive technology heats up, Canadian immigration officials deny a key voice

MONTREAL, July 4, 2018 - United Nations biodiversity negotiations are underway in Montreal, but a key African expert is missing from the fray. Ali Tapsoba, President of the organization Terre à Vie in Burkina Faso, was planning to speak at two events on behalf of Burkinabé civil society who oppose the release of gene drive mosquitoes, a controversial new biotechnology, in their communities.

His visa application was denied without explanation by the Canadian embassy in Dakar on Friday.

Media Advisory: New fact sheets reveal status of geoengineering technology development

Media Advisory: New fact sheets reveal status of geoengineering technology development

June 14, 2018

As climate geoengineering – the hypothetical, intentional manipulation of Earth systems to countereffect some of the symptoms of climate change – is entering the mainstream climate discourse, more and more headlines are claiming that sulphur particles in the stratosphere or massive dumps of iron in the ocean “will save the world from climate change.”

Pages

Subscribe to News & blogs