Quick Reads

Dumping on Gaia

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Claiming to protect the planet from greenhouse gases, geo-engineer, Planktos, Inc., is poised to dump iron in waters off the Galapagos Islands and thumbing its nose at the International Maritime Organization and the US government

Claiming to protect the planet from greenhouse gases, geo-engineer, Planktos, Inc., is poised to dump iron in waters off the Galapagos Islands and thumbing its nose at the International Maritime Organization and the US government

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) London Convention (dealing with ocean dumping) should urgently launch investigations into the activities of Planktos, Inc., a private climate-engineering firm, according to ETC Group (Ottawa, Canada) and the International Center for Technology Assessment (ICTA - Washington, DC). The two civil society organizations believe that the company may soon begin dumping iron particles in an 100 km. by 100 km. expanse of ocean near the Galapagos islands – if it has not already begun. Planktos may also have violated the U.S. Ocean Dumping Act during iron dumping experiments carried out in 2002. ICTA and ETC Group submitted a formal request to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency early today even as IMO member governments meet in Spain to consider the legality of such high-risk geoengineering experiments. The letter to EPA is available here.

Suicide-Seed Sequel: EU’s “Transcontainer” Turns Terminator into Zombie

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ETC Group released “Terminator: The Sequel,” a Communiqué reporting on new research related to “suicide seeds” and other genetically modified (GM) seed technologies that pose unacceptable threats to farmers, biodiversity and food sovereignty.

Les semences-suicide – La suite : le Transcontainer de l’UE transforme Terminator en zombie

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TC Group lance aujourd’hui Terminator -La suite, un communiqué sur une nouvelle recherche en rapport avec les semences-suicide et autres technologies relatives aux semences GM (génétiquement modifiées) qui constituent une menace inacceptable pour les agriculteurs, la biodiversité et la souveraineté alimentaire.

ETC Group nous parle aujourd’hui d’une nouvelle cuvée de technologies du génie génétique, présentées comme une solution biosécuritaire à la dissémination non désirée des transgènes de cultures, arbres et plantes pharmaceutiques GM. En pratique, la commercialisation de ces technologies permettra aux multinationales des semences d’affermir leur emprise sur les semences exclusives et de gruger les droits des agriculteurs.

Synthia’s last hurdle?

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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 bacterial genome into the cell of another bacterial species. Nobel laureate Hamilton Smith who is one of Venter’s co-authors in the research article told a meeting of synthetic biologists in Zürich on Monday that this represents a significant step en route to building a whole new life form. As the article itself concludes, “…we have discovered a form of bacterial DNA transfer that permits … recipient cells to be platforms for the production of new species using modified natural genomes or manmade genomes…”

Los microbios salen de la Caja de Pandora

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Adiós Dolly… ¡Hola Sintia! El Instituto J. Craig Venter busca patentar el primer ser vivo artificial creado en un laboratorio

El Grupo ETC apelará legalmente contra las patentes sobre “Sintias” (Organismos vivos sintetizados en laboratorio)

Diez años después del nacimiento de Dolly, la oveja clonada, el Instituto J. Craig Venter ha solicitado una patente sobre una nueva bomba biotecnológica: la primer especie hecha completamente en un laboratorio. Se trata de una bacteria construida totalmente con ADN sintético.

El Instituto Venter —que toma el nombre de su creador y financiador, J. Craig Venter, el científico que encabezó el sector privado en la carrera para mapear el genoma humano— ha solicitado patentes en todo el mundo sobre lo que ha bautizado como “Micoplasma laboratorium”. El Grupo ETC apodó a este organismo sintético, “Sintia”.

¿Soberanía alimentaria o Revolución Verde 2.0?

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La bala de plata tiene un arma...

El Grupo ETC publica en español el Communiqué de 16 páginas ¿Revolución Verde 2.0 para África?, describiendo cinco nuevas iniciativas para “mejorar” la agricultura en ese continente.

Los proyectos principales son la construcción de cuatro centros de excelencia agropecuaria y la fuerte inversión de las Fundaciones Bill and Melinda Gates y Rockefeller en una “Alianza para una Revolución Verde en África”, AGRA por sus siglas en inglés.

News Release from the Galapagos National Park re: Planktos

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The Galápagos National Park (entity in charge of managing and administering the two protected areas of the Galápagos Archipelago), is concerned with the US Company Planktos and its plans to experiment in waters near the Galápagos Marine Reserve. For this reason the park has been examining data to stop the Planktos experiment, which could affect the fragile ecosystems of the Galápagos Islands, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

¡PATENTE REVOCADA! El monopolio de Monsanto anulado en Munich

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Más vale tarde que nunca

Munich. La Oficina Europea de Patentes (EPO) puso un alto a la avaricia corporativa de Monsanto el 3 de mayo 2007, al revocar su patente total sobre los frijoles de soya genéticamente modificados (EP0301749), una patente sin precedentes por su increíblemente enorme alcance. El Grupo ETC, organización de la sociedad civil con sede en Canadá, ganó la batalla legal contra Monsanto después de 13 años, contra una patente de especie sobre los frijoles de soya, cuando la EPO sentenció que la patente no era nueva o suficiente (es decir, el paso inventivo argumentado no era lo suficientemente claro o contundente para que un especialista pudiera reproduciro). La demanda contra la patente estuvo respaldada por Greenpeace y por la red europea No Patents on Life. La Dra. Ricarda Steinbrecher de Econexus, con sede en Reino Unido, se unió al equipo contra la patente como experto científico.

REVOKED!! Monsanto Monopoly Nixed in Munich

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but little joy in foiling soy ploy at this late date

Munich – The European Patent Office put the brakes on Monsanto’s over-the-top corporate greed by revoking its species-wide patent on all genetically modified soybeans (EP0301749) – a patent unprecedented in its broad scope. ETC Group, an international civil society organization based in Canada, won its 13-year legal challenge against Monsanto’s species-wide soybean patent when an EPO appeal board ruled that the patent was not new or sufficient (i.e., the invention claimed was not sufficiently described for a skilled person to repeat it). The patent challenge was supported by Greenpeace and “No Patents on Life!” Dr. Ricarda Steinbrecher of UK-based EcoNexus also joined the opposition team in Munich as a scientific expert.

Geoengineers to Foul Galapagos Seas-Defying Climate Panel Warning

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As the UN's top climate science panel, the IPCC, prepares to criticise the idea of geoengineering, one maverick geoengineering company, Planktos Inc, has announced it is about to dump several tonnes of tiny particles into the waters around the Galapagos Islands, covering an area larger than Puerto Rico. Doing so, they claim, will re-engineer the atmosphere, win them commercial carbon credits and perhaps a shot at the $25 million prize for greenhouse gas reduction put up by Richard Branson. Mainstream scientists are sceptical and environmental and social justice groups are crying foul.

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