News & Blogs

Die G(e)nome von Zürich

Internationale Organisationen verlangen Kontrollen für die Synthetische Biologie

Synthetische Biologie beinhaltet die künstliche – oder eben synthetische – Herstellung von Genen, Lebewesen oder Teilen davon. Es ist ein neues Feld extremer Gentechnik.

Vom 24. bis 26. Juni 2007 fand an der ETH Zürich der dritte weltweite Kongress zur Synthetischen Biologie statt. Schweizerische und internationale Organisationen fordern die Regierungen zu schnellem Handeln auf, um diese neue und potentiell gefährliche Technologie zu regulieren und zu kontrollieren.

Terminator se trasnforma en Zombie: Proyecto Transcontainer de la Unión Europea

Secuela a la historia de las semillas suicidas

El Grupo ETC publica su nuevo Communiqué “Terminator: la secuela”, en donde informa sobre la nueva investigación relacionada con semillas suicidas
Ya está disponible en español el reporte del Grupo ETC sobre un nuevo cultivo transgénico que las empresas promoverán como solución al flujo no intencionado de tansgenes de cultivos genéticamente modificados, farmacultivos y árboles transgénicos (Communiqué núm. 95). En la práctica, si estas tecnologías se comercializan, la industria multinacional de semillas aumentará su control sobre las semillas de patente y podrá restringir aún más los derechos de los agricultores.

Planktos’s commercial ocean iron fertilization carbon-trading gambit: Brakes on Flakes

Intergovernmental scientific body fires shot across geoengineer’s bow

An intergovernmental scientific committee of the London Convention on ocean dumping agreed at its closing plenary in Spain, to a tough consensus “statement of concern” warning that iron fertilization of ocean surfaces – as an attempt at commercial carbon sequestration – has environmental risks and lacks scientific evidence of effectiveness. The statement was triggered by news that Planktos, Inc. a for-profit enterprise with offices in San Francisco, Budapest, and Vancouver is about to dump 100 tons of iron nanoparticles over a 10,000 km² stretch of Pacific Ocean in the vicinity of the Galapagos Islands. The company’s goal is to sell carbon offsets on the unproven assumption that the phytoplankton bloom created by the iron dumping could lead to the permanent sequestration of CO2 greenhouse gases. “Its a very strong statement – literally an emergency call for the full London Convention [of the International Maritime Organization] to take up the threat of ocean geoengineering when governments convene in London this November 5-9,” says Jim Thomas of ETC Group, en route to Europe. “By publicizing the scientific body’s concern now, governments are bluntly warning companies that there could be national and international regulatory repercussions from commercial iron dumping.” Planktos has already been advised by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that commercial iron dumping by a U.S. flagged ship could be in violation of EPA rules. In response, the company has told US officials that it will either find another flag or another ship. Although the company has said that it intends to dump 100 tons of iron particles in a stretch of ocean somewhere near the Galapagos Islands this month, the whereabouts of its vessel, the Weatherbird II, is not clear and ETC Group believes the boat to still be docked at Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

GAIA como vertedero

Con el argumento de proteger al planeta de los gases de invernadero, la empresa de geoingeniería Planktos Inc. está dispuesta a verter toneladas de hierro en aguas cercanas a las Islas Galápagos, burlándose de la Organización Marítima Internacional (OMI) y al gobierno de Estados Unidos.

La Agencia de Protección Ambiental de Estados Unidos (EPA) y el Convenio de Londres de la OMI (que se ocupa de la contaminación del mar por vertimiento de desechos) deben iniciar investigaciones urgentes sobre las actividades de Planktos Inc., una empresa de ingeniería climática, demandan el Grupo ETC (Ottawa, Canadá) y el International Center for Technology Assessment (Centro Internacional para la Evaluación de la Tecnología, ICTA, Washington DC).

Dumping on Gaia

Claiming to protect the planet from greenhouse gases, geo-engineer, Planktos, Inc., is poised to dump iron in waters off the Galapagos Islands and thumbing its nose at the International Maritime Organization and the US government

Claiming to protect the planet from greenhouse gases, geo-engineer, Planktos, Inc., is poised to dump iron in waters off the Galapagos Islands and thumbing its nose at the International Maritime Organization and the US government

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) London Convention (dealing with ocean dumping) should urgently launch investigations into the activities of Planktos, Inc., a private climate-engineering firm, according to ETC Group (Ottawa, Canada) and the International Center for Technology Assessment (ICTA - Washington, DC). The two civil society organizations believe that the company may soon begin dumping iron particles in an 100 km. by 100 km. expanse of ocean near the Galapagos islands – if it has not already begun. Planktos may also have violated the U.S. Ocean Dumping Act during iron dumping experiments carried out in 2002. ICTA and ETC Group submitted a formal request to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency early today even as IMO member governments meet in Spain to consider the legality of such high-risk geoengineering experiments. The letter to EPA is available here.

Páginas

Inglés