Synthetic Biology

The Potential Impacts of Synthetic Biology on the Conservation & Sustainable Use of Biodiversity: A Submission to the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical & Technological Advice
Submitted by: The International Civil Society Working Group on Synthetic Biology
Consisting of: Action Group On Erosion, Technology and Concentration (ETC Group), Econexus, Friends of the Earth USA, International Centre for Technology Assesment, The Sustainability Council of New Zealand

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December 16, 2010Groups Criticize Presidential Commission’s Recommendations on Synthetic Biology as Deeply Flawed‘Business as usual’ wins out over precaution in proposals for policing synthetic organismsWASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues today released its recommendations on the oversight of synthetic biology, provoking strong criticism from public interest watchdogs for its failure to respond to key environmental and public health risks.In a letter sent to the commission, 58 environmental, public interest, and religious groups rejected the recommendations as a deeply flawed response to advances in synthetic biology, including the creation this year of the first entirely synthetic organism, that demand strong federal oversight. In particular, the groups critiqued the recommendations for: ignoring the precautionary principle, lacking adequate review of environmental risks, placing unwarranted faith in... Read more

                    

      

Side Event: ETC Group, Biofuelwatch, EcoNexus, African Biodiversity Network/Gaia Friday Dec 3rd,  20:15–21:45Room Sandía, Cancunmesse

Industries and governments are joining forces to create policies that support the use of crops and other “biomass” (trees, agriculture “residues,” manure and more) as substitutes for coal, oil and gas – not just for energy and fuels, but also for the production of plastics and chemicals. While presented as “green, clean, and renewable,” the shift from petroleum to biomass is, in fact, worsening climate change, increasing deforestation and biodiversity loss, degrading soils and depleting water supplies. Further, the new “bio-based” economy threatens livelihoods, especially in the global South where it encourages “land... Read more

 

The New Biomassters Synthetic Biology and the Next Assault on Biodiversity and Livelihoods A new report from The ETC Group   As global attention switches from the new Nagoya Protocol of the Biodiversity Convention  to the next climate talks in Cancun, Mexico, ETC Group releases a groundbreaking report that lifts the lid on the emerging global grab on plants, lands, ecosystems, and traditional cultures. The New Biomassters - Synthetic Biology and the Next Assault on Biodiversity and Livelihoods is a critique of what OECD countries are calling 'the new bioeconomy.' Concerted attempts are already underway to shift industrial production feedstocks from fossil fuels to the 230 billion tones of 'biomass' (living stuff) that the Earth produces every year -not just for liquid fuels but also for production of power, chemicals,... Read more

Briefing and Recommendations for Delegates to CBD COP 10 in Nagoya

As the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) ponders guidelines for considering new and emerging issues that may have implications for biodiversity – and struggles to adopt a protocol on access and benefit sharing (ABS) – researchers in synthetic biology are developing the capacity to construct synthetic life forms. The repercussions for biological diversity are unknown but could be devastating. Natural organisms, too, may be “tweaked” using synthetic biology to allow for patent monopolies beyond the reach of state sovereignty or of indigenous peoples.  

 

Several decades after the development of recombinant DNA techniques, a new set of genetic technologies is once again changing the way industry manipulates life. Synthetic biology applies digital and engineering approaches to building life forms from scratch using synthetic DNA and... Read more

ETC GroupNews Release20 May 2010www.etcgroup.org

 

Synthia is Alive … and Breeding: Panacea or Pandora's Box?

As Craig Venter announces lab-made life, ETC Group calls for Global Moratorium on Synthetic Biology.

In a paper published today in the journal Science, the J. Craig Venter Institute and Synthetic Genomics Inc announced the laboratory creation of the world's first self-reproducing organism whose entire genome was built from scratch by a machine.(1) The construction of this synthetic organism, anticipated and dubbed "Synthia" by the ETC Group three years ago, will stir a firestorm of controversy over the ethics of building artificial life and the implications of the largely unknown field of synthetic biology.

Panacea, or…? According to today’s publication, "Synthia" could be a boon to second-generation agrofuels making it – theoretically – possible to feed people and cars simultaneously. The article further suggests that... Read more

ETC GroupCommuniqué de presse20 mai 2010www.etcgroup.org

 

Synthia est bien vivante et elle est parmi nous : panacée ou boîte de Pandore ?

Alors que Craig Venter annonce avoir réussi à créer la vie en laboratoire, l'ETC Group appelle à un moratoire mondial sur la biologie synthétique.

Dans un article paru aujourd'hui dans la revue Science, l'institut J. Craig Venter et la société Synthetic Genomics Inc. ont annoncé la création, en laboratoire, du premier organisme autoreproducteur dont le génome a été assemblé de toutes pièces au moyen d'une machine. (1) Cet organisme synthétique, dont l'ETC Group avait déjà annoncé la création et qu'il avait baptisé "Synthia" il y a trois ans, va susciter de vives controverses sur la pertinence, sur le plan éthique, de créer la vie artificiellement et sur les implications de la biologie synthétique, qui constitue un domaine encore pratiquement... Read more

News Release - 21st April 2010 - For Immediate Release

 Hands Off Mother Earth!

Civil Society Groups announce new global campaign against geoengineering tests – urge public to join in.

www.handsoffmotherearth.org

 

Cochabamba Bolivia  - On the eve of UN Mother Earth Day, over sixty national and international organizations today threw their weight behind a common statement launching a global campaign to prevent real world deployment of geoengineering experiments.

Geoengineering refers to large-scale intentional tinkering with the climate and earth systems to counteract global warming. The ‘Hands Off Mother Earth’ campaign (or H.O.M.E. campaign) regards such geoengineering schemes as dangerous and unjust. It is urging individuals and organizations to speak out in opposing them.

“With rich... Read more

News Release Biofuelwatch / ETC Group / Greenpeace

BIOMASS POWER GRAB HIGHLIGHTED AS BIOTECH INDUSTRY MEETS IN MONTREAL

Montreal- July 21 2009 -- As hundreds of delegates gathered for the Sixth Annual Conference on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing at Palais des congrès in Old Montreal, a group of NGOs held an early morning press conference across the street. Greenpeace, ETC Group and Biofuelwatch joined forces to warn that the “green” energy of the biotech industry was mostly hype, that governments should not add to their already generous subsidies of the industry and that the feedstock on which it is all based – so called “biomass” – is neither plentiful nor easily converted into renewable chemicals, plastics and fuels.

Jim Thomas, a researcher from ETC Group, charged that behind the thin, green veneer of clean energy and renewable plastics, Big Bio is, in fact, engaged in a huge industrial power grab:... Read more

Communiqué et avis aux médias

 

Des ONG dénoncent l’écomarketing des entreprises biotechnologiques « Non aux prétendus remèdes miracles aux changements climatiques »

Montréal, le 16 juillet 2009. Plusieurs organisations environnementales, parmi lesquelles figurent Greenpeace, ETC Group et Biofuelwatch préviennent que le lobby biotechnologique s’apprête à se lancer dans un vaste exercice de relations publiques destiné à faire accepter certaines innovations comme étant des solutions écologiques. La 6e Conférence annuelle sur la biotechnologie industrielle aura lieu au Palais des congrès de Montréal du 19 au 22 juillet prochains.

Pendant la conférence, l’industrie biotechnologie va présenter diverses innovations comme s’il s’agissait de véritables solutions aux... Read more

 

Press Release and Media Advisory

 

NGOs Denounce Corporate Greenwashing: ‘No to Dubious Biotech-fixes for Climate Change’

Montreal, 16 July 2009. Several groups including Greenpeace, ETC Group and Biofuelwatch are warning that the biotech lobby will mount a major green-washing public relations exercise during the Sixth Annual Conference on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing that will be held at the Palais de congrès (19-22 July 2009).

During the Conference, the biotech industry will present various untested biotechnology innovations as solutions to climate change. “The biotech industry is seeking massive public and private investment for their untested technologies, whose health and environmental impacts have not been fully examined. Rather than be duped by yet another green mirage, governments should invest in real solutions to climate change and get serious about reducing CO2 emissions and commit to... Read more

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.

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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 November 13, 2008 www.etcgroup.org

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

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.

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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.)

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(PDF2 above contains the complete poster)

News Release Coalition Against Biopiracy Wednesday, 21 May 2008 www.captainhookawards.org www.etcgroup.org

 

Captain Hook Awards for Biopiracy 2008

The Coalition Against Biopiracy* exposes Hooks and celebrates Cogs

Winners announced at the UN’s Biodiversity Convention in Bonn

Today the world learned which corporations, governments, institutions and individuals earned a spot in biopiracy’s hall of shame when the Coalition Against Biopiracy (CAB) announced the winners of the 5th Captain Hook Awards at a lunch-time ceremony during the Ninth Conference of the Parties (COP9) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Bonn, Germany.

“The Maritim Hotel, where the CBD meets this week and next, was the perfect place to... Read more

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