Is the UN Convention on Biodiversity losing the precautionary plot?
Submitted by Ronnie Hall on
You can listen to this 5-minute mini-podcast (in English) here.
Submitted by Ronnie Hall on
You can listen to this 5-minute mini-podcast (in English) here.
Submitted by Silvia Ribeiro on
The 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to researchers who developed the genetic engineering technique CRISPR-Cas9 – , some of which applications could have such an explosive effect on nature and people that it has been called a “gene bomb”.
Submitted by Ronnie Hall on
Submitted by Ronnie Hall on
As part of our contribution to a new Global Citizen’s Report ‘Gates to a Global Empire’, we explore the way in which the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) is forcing dangerous gene drive technologies onto the world. BMGF is either the first or second largest funder of gene drive research (alongside the shadowy U.S. military organisation Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) whose exact level of investment is disputed).
Submitted by Dru Oja Jay on
In this podcast episode, ETC Group speaks to Abeba Birhane, a PhD candidate in cognitive science at University College Dublin in the School of Computer Science. Birhane talks about her work on the algorithmic colonisation of Africa, why we need to normalise critical thinking on new technologies and if there is such a thing as “ethical" AI.
Submitted by Ronnie Hall on
MEXICO, 3 September 2020 : Emerging Ag Inc., a synthetic biotech industry lobbying firm, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has been allowed to take a driving seat in discussions about biodiversity conservation and synthetic biology amongst members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), in advance of IUCN’s next World Congress in 2021 [1].
Submitted by Dru Oja Jay on
Submitted by Dru Oja Jay on
Submitted by Dru Oja Jay on
Submitted by Veronica Villa on
Gene drive organisms have been greeted with a breathless euphoria by some geneticists, policy-makers and philanthropists. By manipulating the sexual reproductive system of organisms, the promoters of the technology claim they should be able to exterminate some species that are harmful to humans. However, once we look behind the headline-grabbing claims, it becomes clear that the use of this technology could put food systems and humanity at serious risk of irreversible harm.
See the video here:
Submitted by Dru Oja Jay on
Submitted by Dru Oja Jay on
ETC will be occasionally chatting with collaborators, activists and experts about emerging technologies. Check for the ETC podcast on iTunes, Google Play, or other podcast services. A full list of episodes can be found at etcgroup.libsyn.com In Episode #1 ETC's Tom Wakeford speaks with Ugandan lawyer and advocate Barbara Ntambirweki about gene drives, a powerful new genetic technology that can change species in the wild and make species go extinct.
Submitted by Dru Oja Jay on
JULY 8, 2019, MONTREAL–In a report released today, ETC Group exposes serious bias and conflicts of interest among members of an “expert” panel convened by the highly influential International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the largest international body that convenes conservation movements.
Submitted by Dru Oja Jay on
Submitted by Dru Oja Jay on
The expert group that will be filing a report with recommendations to the UN Convention on Biodiversity met in early June, and examined a variety of emerging uses of synthetic biology. Jim Thomas was there representing ETC.
Increasingly, syn bio is moving out of the lab, and companies are conducting experiments and even genetic engineering in the wild – for example, by using viruses or gene drives to change genetic structures in nature.
Submitted by Dru Oja Jay on
Executive Summary
Submitted by Dru Oja Jay on
The global meat industry is estimated to be worth over $1 trillion USD in 2019, and is projected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2022. The dairy industry is estimated at $442 billion. Industrially processed meat and dairy are notorious for the inhumane conditions of their livestock, and are a climate menace.
Submitted by Veronica Villa on
Prepared by ETC Group with additional research by Dr Elisabeth Abergel, for the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF)
Submitted by Dru Oja Jay on
Making sense of emerging trends in science and technology is a core part of what ETC Group does. We’re impatient to grasp the implications of new realities that are emerging around us, whether they relate to artificial intelligence, social engineering, extreme forms of digital genetic modification, corporate concentration, surveillance, authoritarianism or geoengineering.
Submitted by Dru Oja Jay on
Target Malaria, a research consortium that aims to eradicate malaria-carrying species of mosquitoes using new genetic modification tools, does not have proper consent from communities for its experiment. That is the main message of a new short film that is being released this week.
“A Question of Consent: Exterminator Mosquitoes in Burkina Faso” documents conversations with residents of the areas where Target Malaria is conducting tests, as well as opposition from civil society groups in the region.
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