News & Blogs

Competencia para poner nombre a la vainilla artificial

El Grupo ETC y Amigos de la Tierra lanzaron una competencia internacional de diseño y mercadotecnia para llamar la atención sobre el uso de biología sintética (ingeniería genética extrema) en nuestra comida. Usen su creatividad para ayudarnos a denunciar un ingrediente, muy antinatural, que amenaza introducirse en nuestros platillos y otros productos: una nueva "vainilla". Ayúdenos a denunciarlo y a explicar lo que podría ocurrirles a los cultivadores de la verdadera vainilla en el mundo.

Fate of Pro-Terminator Bill Uncertain

Brazil’s Judiciary Commission in Confusion: Charges, Counter-Charges and Confrontations

Confronted with 35,000 institutional and individual signatures on a petition growing by several hundred an hour, Brazil’s Judiciary Commission agreed to take the Pro-Terminator Bill off the agenda this week leaving open the possibility that the bill will not be passed until Congress reconvenes in early February. However, the Judiciary Commission also determined to sit again next Tuesday and could continue meeting even Wednesday and Thursday before adjourning for Christmas. The Chair of the Commission has reiterated his commitment to block the contentious bill but CSO observers understand that a majority of Commission members are in favor of the suicide seed legislation and could, regardless of a formal agenda, call for a vote at any meeting. Brazilian allies both in the Commission and among the civil society organizations attending the negotiations say that representatives and government officials have been shocked by the scale in ferocity of global opposition to the proposed legislation.

Comisión legislativa en Brasil “exterminaría” las semillas (y la agricultura) esta semana

Después de comprometerse en el Día Mundial de la Alimentación (16 de octubre) a bloquear una iniciativa que legalizaría la siembra de semillas Terminator en Brasil, la Comisión de Justicia está nuevamente emplazada a aprobar las semillas suicidas, lo que sería un regalo navideño para Monsanto, DuPont y Syngenta.

Lancement d’une compétition pour donner un nom à la vanille biosynthétique

Le Groupe ETC et les Amis de la Terre lancent une compétition publique de design et de dénomination afin de tourner les projecteurs sur la présence de produits issus de la biologie synthétique (manipulation génétique extrême) dans nos aliments. Faites preuve de créativité et aidez-nous à dénoncer un nouvel ingrédient tout sauf naturel arrivant sur les marchés près de chez vous, ainsi que les effets négatifs probables pour les petits producteurs de vanille.

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Recent Blogs

TechReckoning: Flask-Grown Flesh

TechReckoning: Flask-Grown Flesh

Written for The Ecologist - 20/07/2008

If radical vegan Ingrid Newkirk has her way, the nouvelle cuisine on vegetarian menus in five years time may be a big juicy steak.

Newkirk, founder and president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), has offered a $1 million prize to whoever can scale-up stem cell techniques that grow edible animal tissue – so called lab-grown meat – for a mass market.

Pat Mooney's Testimony on Biofuels to Canadian Senate

Pat Mooney's Testimony on Biofuels to Canadian Senate

Testimony of Pat Mooney

Executive Director of ETC Group

Before the Standing Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources-regarding Bill C-33 (the "Biofuels Bill")

Senate of Canada

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Thank you. I will begin by confessing that I am not an expert on biofuels. I feel as though my life has been hijacked by biofuels over the last few months.

Wrong Response to Food Crisis

Wrong Response to Food Crisis

During the United Nations High-Level Conference on World Food Security, Climate Change and Bioenergy, Rome-based U.N. agencies announced yesterday that a new partnership was struck between the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the World Food Programme (WFP).

Jolly gene giant-a book review of Claire Hope Cummings' "Uncertain Peril"

Jolly gene giant-a book review of Claire Hope Cummings' "Uncertain Peril"

Review by Hope Shand, research director of ETC Group.
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In October 1996, a spokesman for Monsanto told Farm Journal why his company was buying up seed companies left and right: "What you're seeing is not just a consolidation of seed companies, it's really a consolidation of the entire food chain."

Too small to be beautiful? Organic Pioneer says No to Nano

Too small to be beautiful? Organic Pioneer says No to Nano

Now that you can drive your ‘nano’ car, listening to your ipod ‘nano’ while wearing ‘nano’ sunscreen and ‘nano’ clothing, the UK’s largest organic certifier has just introduced the perfect nano-antidote - a ‘nano-free’ standard for consumer products. The Soil Association – one of the world's pioneers of organic agriculture announced today that it is has banned human-made nanomaterials from the organic cosmetics, foods and textiles that it certifies.

Synthia Gets a Shotgun - Goodbye genetic engineering?

Synthia Gets a Shotgun - Goodbye genetic engineering?

What do ocean-going yachts, space-traveling bacteria and synthetic life have in common? J. Craig Venter, of course. The self-styled genome tycoon has been busy pushing the boundaries on what may appear at first glance to be unrelated enterprises. Nothing could be further from the truth. A suite of recently uncovered patent applications lodged by Venter and his colleagues reveal not only an attempt to grab ownership over much of synthetic biology (see news release) but also a breathtakingly bold business plan for producing millions of new synthetic organisms per day. At the heart of this are plans for a new, automated process enabling rapid assembly of complete synthetic genomes - plans that, if realised, could render current genetic engineering techniques quaint and obsolete. Venter calls it "homologous in vitro recombination" or "combinatorial genomics." ETC suggests it might be properly dubbed "shotgun synthesis" and it has the potential to blast apart current biotech practice.

La Comisión de Medio Ambiente de Brasil rechaza la tecnología Terminator

La Comisión de Medio Ambiente de Brasil rechaza la tecnología Terminator

Esteriliza las semillas y amenaza la agricultura familiar y las costumbres tradicionales Este jueves fue desestimado por la Comisión de Medio Ambiente de la Cámara de Diputados, por 15 votos a 4, el Proyecto de Ley 268/2007 —redactado por el diputado federal Eduardo Sciarra (DEM – PR)— que busca modificar la Ley de Bioseguridad para liberar los transgénicos que utilizan Tecnologías Genéticas de Uso Restringido (TRUG), más conocidas como semillas Terminator (semillas estériles.) El proyecto pretendía liberar la investigación y patentamiento de estas semillas estériles.

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