BANG (Bits Atoms Neurons and Genes)/ Converging Technology

Technology transfer is one of the four key topics being discussed under negotiations on Long-Term Cooperative Actions in Copenhagen (the others are mitigation, adaptation and financing). The inter-governmental negotiating text that is under discussion contemplates various measures for accelerating the diffusion of technologies. It will most likely create an ʻAction Planʼ as well as a ʻTechnology Bodyʼ and various technical panels or innovation centres that will prove influential in the coming years in deciding which technologies get financial and political backing. We need to make sure the right technologies get the support they need and the wrong ones are discarded. That wonʼt happen without a comprehensive social and environmental assessment process. We, civil society groups and social movements from around the world, understand the urgent need for real and lasting solutions to climate change. We recognise the deadly consequences that we all face... Read more

ON BEHALF OF AD HOC COALITION: LET’S LOOK BEFORE WE LEAP!

MEDIA ADVISORY

Alert to climate negotiators:

LETS LOOK BEFORE WE LEAP!

GAPING OVERSIGHT:  NO ASSESSMENT IN TECHNOLOGY TEXT

An international group of more than 150 civil society groups from 36 countries will release a joint declaration calling upon governments in Copenhagen to revamp the draft text on technology transfer, to ensure that the precautionary principle is respected and that high-risk and unproven climate “techno-fixes” are not allowed to put the world at risk.

WHO:   Third World Network and ETC Group with other signatories of declaration.

WHEN: Thursday,  December 10 2009 at 9:00 AM

WHERE: BELLA CENTRE, Hall H, Asger Jorn Room, Copenhagen

This press conference will be webcast.

Check Read more

Who Owns Nature?

New report warns of corporate concentration, commodification of nature; highlights global resistance grounded in "Food Sovereignty"

ETC Group today releases a 48-page report, "Who Owns Nature?" on corporate concentration in commercial food, farming, health and the strategic push to commodify the planet's remaining natural resources.

In a world where market research is becoming increasingly proprietary and pricey, ETC Group's report names names, discloses market share and provides top 10 industry rankings up and down the corporate food chain. Not all the corporations identified in ETC Group's new report are household names, but collectively they control a staggering share of the commercial products found on industrial farms, in our refrigerators and medicine cabinets.

An international advocacy... Read more

Who Owns Nature?

In this 100th issue of the ETC Communiqué we update Oligopoly, Inc. – our ongoing series tracking corporate concentration in the life industry. We also analyze the past three decades of agribusiness efforts to monopolize the 24% of living nature that has been commodified, and expose a new strategy to capture the remaining three-quarters that has, until now, remained beyond the market economy.

À qui appartient la nature?

Pouvoir des grandes sociétés et ultime frontière de la marchandisation du vivant

Problèmes, obsessions et occasions : une préface

TIl y a trente ans, l’humanité avait un problème; la science avait une obsession; et l’industrie tenait une occasion. Notre problème était l’injustice. Les rangs des affamés ne cessaient de grossir et les rangs des agriculteurs, de s’affaiblir. De son côté, la science était obsédée par la biotechnologie – la possibilité de modifier génétiquement les cultures et le bétail (et l’être humain) pour les doter de traits qui allaient régler tous nos problèmes. L’industrie agroalimentaire tenait l’occasion de prélever l’énorme valeur ajoutée tout au long de la... Read more

ETC Group News Release 9 October 2008 www.etcgroup.org

The Last Straw?  As Extreme Genetic Engineers Gather in Hong Kong, Critics Warn of Corporate Grab on Plant Life SynBio 4.0 = SynBio-4-profit

Synthetic biologists, a brave new breed of science entrepreneurs who engineer life-forms from scratch, will hold their largest-ever global gathering in Hong Kong, October 10-12, known as "Synthetic Biology 4.0." Although most people have never heard of synthetic biology, it's moving full speed ahead fueled by giant agribusiness, energy and chemical corporations with little debate about who will control the technology, how it will be regulated (or not) and despite grave concerns surrounding the safety and security risks of designer organisms. Corporate investors/partners include BP, Chevron, Shell, Virgin Fuels, DuPont, Microsoft, Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland.

... Read more

Click on the 'Download PDF' icon above to download ETC Group's 12-page report, Commodifying Nature's Last Straw?  Extreme Genetic Engineering and the Post-Petroleum Sugar Economy. (PDF2 above is a higher resolution file.)

ETC Group News Release 24 January 2008 www.etcgroup.org

Venter Institute Builds Longest Sequence of Synthetic DNA (that Doesn’t Work)  “It’s not how long – but how wise” cautions ETC Group

ETC Group today renewed its call for a moratorium on the release and commercialization of synthetic organisms, asserting that societal debate on the oversight of synthetic biology is urgently overdue. The renewed call came as J. Craig Venter’s research team announced that it has constructed a bacterial-length synthetic genome in the lab using mail-order synthetic DNA sequences. They’ve named the synthetic genome, Mycoplasma genitalium JCVI-1.0, and it’s similar to its counterpart in nature, a genital bacterium with the smallest known genome of any free living organism. The announcement is not breaking news because the work had been previously reported, but the details were published today in Science.

“Venter is... Read more

ETC Group

News Release

8 December 2007

www.etcgroup.org 

Extreme Monopoly:

Venter’s Team Makes Vast Patent Grab on Synthetic Genomes

Six months ago ETC Group exposed the Venter Institute’s controversial patent applications on the world’s first human-made living organism built entirely from synthetic DNA (dubbed “Synthia” by ETC Group). Newly published patent claims reveal an even bigger grab for ownership of synthetic life.

A suite of patent applications lodged by J. Craig Venter and his colleagues claims exclusive monopoly on a wide swath of synthetic biology and demonstrate a not-so-subtle move to position Venter’s company, Synthetic Genomics, Inc., as the ‘microbesoft’ of synthetic life. Find out about Read more

ETC Group News Release 8 December 2007 www.etcgroup.org

Extreme Monopoly:

Venter’s Team Makes Vast Patent Grab on Synthetic Genomes

Six months ago ETC Group exposed the Venter Institute’s controversial patent applications on the world’s first human-made living organism built entirely from synthetic DNA (dubbed “Synthia” by ETC Group). Newly published patent claims reveal an even bigger grab for ownership of synthetic life.

A suite of patent applications lodged by J. Craig Venter and his colleagues claims exclusive monopoly on a wide swath of synthetic biology and demonstrate a not-so-subtle move to position Venter’s company, Synthetic Genomics, Inc., as the ‘microbesoft’ of synthetic life. Find out about Read more

Patenting Pandora's Bug

Goodbye, Dolly...Hello, Synthia! J. Craig Venter Institute Seeks Monopoly Patents on the World's First-Ever Human-Made Life Form

ETC Group Will Challenge Patents on "Synthia" - Original Syn Organism Created in Laboratory

Ten years after Dolly the cloned sheep made her stunning debut, the J. Craig Venter Institute is applying for a patent on a new biological bombshell - the world's first-ever human-made species. The novel bacterium is made entirely with synthetic DNA in the laboratory.

The Venter Institute - named for its founder and CEO, J. Craig Venter, the scientist who led the private sector race to map the Human Genome - is applying for worldwide patents on what they refer to as "Mycoplasma laboratorium." In the tradition of 'Dolly,' ETC has nicknamed this synthetic organism (or... Read more

News ReleaseETC Group January 16, 2007www.etcgroup.org

Extreme Genetic Engineering: ETC Group Releases Report on Synthetic Biology

Findings to be presented at World Social Forum in Nairobi - 20-25 January

"Genetic engineering is passé," said Pat Mooney, Executive Director of ETC... Read more

ETC Group News Release Wednesday, 10 January 2007 www.etcgroup.org First Round of Nano-Hazard Symbol Contest Ends; ETC Group Takes Finalists to the World Social Forum, Nairobi, Kenya, 20-25 January Hundreds of people from all over the globe participated in ETC Group's competition to design a Nano-Hazard Symbol that warns of the presence of engineered nanomaterials. The winning design will be submitted to international standard-setting bodies responsible for hazard characterisation and could be used as a label on product-packaging or workroom walls. After three full months of activity, the first round of the contest ended January 8. (More information on the competition, along with the list of judges, can be found here: http://www.etcgroup.org/nanohazard ) "The response to the Nano-Hazard Symbol competition has been overwhelming, and we're grateful for the participation of... Read more

Nanotech Rx

Medical applications of Nano-scale technologies: What Impact on Marginalized communities?

Issue: Medical applications of nano-scale technologies have the potential to revolutionize healthcare by delivering powerful tools for diagnosing and treating disease at the molecular level. But the current zeal for nano-enabledmedicines could divert scarce medical R&D funds away from essential health services and direct resources away from non-medical aspects of community health and wellbeing. Although nanomedicine is being touted as a solution to pressing health needs in the global South, it is being driven from the North and is designed primarily for wealthy markets. Using nano-scale technologies, the pharmaceutical industry’s ultimate goal is to make every person a patient and every patient a paying customer by “medicating” social ills with human performance enhancement (HyPE) drugs and devices. Nanoenabled HyPEs could usher in an era of... Read more

ETC Group announces the release of "A Tiny Primer on Nano-scale Technologies ...and The Little BANG Theory", a 20 (small) pages pocket guide to nanotechology- a suite of techniques used to manipulate matter at the scale of atoms and molecules.

O Grupo ETC anuncia a publicação do "Manual de Bolso das Tecnologias em Nanoescala ...e a 'Teoria do Little Bang'", um guia básico de nanotecnologia - um conjunto de técnicas para manipular a materia na escala dos átomos e das moléculas (20 páginas). É possível baixar tanto a versão htlm como em PDF.