Synthetic Biology

Captain Hook Awards for Biopiracy 2008

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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,...   Read More













Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biopiracy, Biotechnology, Geoengineering, Human Genomics, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Intellectual Property & Patents, Other, Synthetic Biology, Terminator & Traitor

Venter Institute Builds Longest Sequence of Synthetic DNA (that Doesn’t Work)

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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...   Read More









Categories: BANG/Convergence, Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biological Warfare, Biotechnology, Corporate Concentration, Synthetic Biology

Peak Soil + Peak Oil = Peak Spoils

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Communiqué

November/December 2007
Issue # 96

Peak Soil + Peak Oil = Peak Spoils

In the name of moving “beyond petroleum,” Big Oil, Gene Giants, governments, start-ups and others are forming partnerships that will extend corporate control over more resources in every part of the globe – while keeping the root causes of climate change intact. With grudging recognition that first-generation agrofuels are neither economical nor ecological, investors turn to other life-based technologies, including synthetic biology, for the next alternative fuel fix.

Issue: In OECD countries, massive government incentives and subsidies – estimated to be as high as US$15 billion/year – are stoking...   Read More

Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biotechnology, Corporate Concentration, FAO, Synthetic Biology

Syns of Omission: Civil Society Organizations Respond to Report on Synthetic Biology Governance from the J. Craig Venter Institute and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

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ETC Group
News Release
17 October 2007
www.etcgroup.org


Syns of Omission:
Civil Society Organizations Respond to Report on Synthetic Biology Governance from the J. Craig Venter Institute and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

A report released today on policy options for governance of synthetic biology is a disappointing effort that fails to address wider societal concerns about the rapid deployment of a powerful and controversial new technology. Synthetic biology aims to commercialize new biological parts, devices and living organisms that are constructed from synthetic DNA - including dangerous pathogens. Synthetic biologists are attempting to harness cells as tiny factories for industrial production of chemicals, including pharmaceuticals and fuels. ETC Group describes the synthetic biology approach as "extreme genetic engineering."Read More










Categories: Synthetic Biology

Synthia’s last hurdle?

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ETC Group
News Release
28 June 2007
www.etcgroup.org

Synthia’s last hurdle?

Synthia – the “Original Syn” artificial microbe – may have jumped a hurdle that Dolly – the cloned sheep – never could

Synthia, the (theoretical) human-made synthetic microbe – still barely a twinkle in J. Craig Venter’s eye – may be in search of a surrogate micro-mom sometime very soon. According to a research report released today in Science magazine, Synthia (the subject of a patent application discovered by ETC Group a few weeks ago -see “Goodbye Dolly -- Hello Synthia!”) may have overcome her last hurdle. The report, authored by Craig Venter and his colleagues at Synthetic Genomics Inc., claims to have inserted a foreign...   Read More








Categories: Synthetic Biology

The G(e)nomes of Zurich: Civil Society Calls for Urgent Controls on Synthetic Life

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*this publication also available in German.
ETC Group
News Release
25 June 2007
www.etcgroup.org

The G(e)nomes of Zurich: Civil Society Calls for Urgent Controls on Synthetic Life*

Follow Syn Bio meeting on ETC Group’s blog

Scientists and industrialists in the controversial new field of synthetic biology (building life-forms from scratch) are meeting in Zurich, Switzerland this week amidst claims that the world’s first entirely human-made organism may be only weeks away from creation. Swiss and international civil society groups are calling for swift action to control this technology but the scientists themselves are advancing pre-emptive proposals to evade regulation. As scientists meet in...   Read More











Categories: Synthetic Biology

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

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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....   Read More

Categories: BANG/Convergence, Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biological Warfare, Biotechnology, Geoengineering, Intellectual Property & Patents, Nanotechnology, Other New Technologies, Synthetic Biology

Gambling with Gaia

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ETC Communiqué
Issue # 93
January 2007                                             

Gambling with Gaia

With hopes for Kyoto dimming, some governments may conclude that
massive earth restructuring is the only feasible way out

Issue: Kyoto is fading and carbon trading is a farce. Recognizing this, OECD states can either “bite the bullet” and adopt socially-responsible policies to dramatically cut fossil fuel use and useless consumption or, they can hope for a...   Read More









Categories: BANG/Convergence, Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biological Warfare, Biotechnology, Corporate Concentration, Geoengineering, Human Genomics, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Intellectual Property & Patents, Nanotechnology, "New Enclosures", Other New Technologies, Public / Private Relations, Synthetic Biology

Extreme Genetic Engineering: An Introduction to Synthetic Biology

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News Release
ETC Group
January 16, 2007
www.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

A new report by the ETC Group concludes that the social, environmental and bio-weapons threats of synthetic biology surpass the possible dangers and abuses of biotech. The full text of the 70-page report, Extreme Genetic Engineering: An...   Read More

Categories: BANG/Convergence, Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biological Warfare, Biopiracy, Biotechnology, Intellectual Property & Patents, Nanotechnology, Other New Technologies, Synthetic Biology

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

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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-enabled
medicines 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...   Read More




Categories: BANG/Convergence, Biotechnology, Corporate Concentration, Human Genomics, Intellectual Property & Patents, Nanotechnology, Other New Technologies, Synthetic Biology

Synthetic Biology - Global Societal Review Urgent!

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19th May 2006 NEWS RELEASE

Global Coalition Sounds the Alarm on Synthetic Biology,
Demands Oversight and Societal Debate

Today, a coalition of thirty-eight international organizations including scientists, environmentalists, trade unionists, biowarfare experts and social justice advocates called for inclusive public debate, regulation and oversight of the rapidly advancing field of synthetic biology - the construction of unique and novel artificial life forms to perform specific tasks. Synthetic biologists are meeting this weekend in Berkeley, California where they plan to announce a voluntary code of self-regulation for their work (1). The organizations signing the Open Letter are calling on synthetic biologists to abandon their proposals for self-governance and to engage in an inclusive process of global societal debate on the implications of their work (see attached Open Letter).

...   Read More


Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biological Warfare, Biotechnology, Corporate Concentration, Human Genomics, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Intellectual Property & Patents, Nanotechnology, "New Enclosures", Public / Private Relations, Synthetic Biology

Backgrounder: Open Letter on Synthetic Biology

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Background Document

Synthetic Biology - Global Societal Review Urgent!

Synthetic biology (the attempt to create artificial living organisms) should be self-regulated say scientists at Berkeley assembly. Civil Society organizations say "No!"

"If biologists are indeed on the threshold of synthesizing new life forms, the scope for abuse or inadvertent disaster could be huge." Nature, October 2004

Scientists working at the interface of engineering and biology - in the new field of "synthetic biology" - worry that public distrust of biotechnology could impede their research or draw attention to regulatory chasms. Synthetic biologists are trying to design and construct artificial living systems to perform specific tasks, such as producing pharmaceutical compounds or energy. In October 2004, the journal...   Read More

Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biological Warfare, Biotechnology, Corporate Concentration, Cultural Diversity, Human Genomics, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Intellectual Property & Patents, Nanotechnology, "New Enclosures", Synthetic Biology