-
Solazyme: Synthetic Biology Company Claimed to be Capable of Replacing Palm Oil Struggles to Stay Afloat
A Biofuelwatch investigation of a Californian company that has been at the forefront of genetically engineering algae. It set out to produce vast quantities of biofuels with them – but is only producing small quantities of algal oil, mainly for anti-wrinkle skin care instead. Download the briefing Solazyme is a Californian company founded in 2003 […]
-
Sino-Genta?
by ETC Group And soon there will be three. Joy of six heads towards a “ménage à trois” For more background, see ETC Group’s recent report: Breaking Bad: Big Ag Mega-Mergers in Play [i] For a decade, six multinationals have controlled 75% of the world’s high-tech seeds and pesticides businesses. Late last year, Dow and DuPont agreed to merge and now state-owned ChemChina is […]
-
Beware False Promises: Algal Oils and Other Products of Synthetic Biology Aren’t About to Save the Orangutan…. But Carry Serious New Risks
Joint briefing by Biofuelwatch and Friends of the Earth United States: Beware False Promises: Algal Oils and Other Products of Synthetic Biology Aren’t About to Save the Orangutan…. But Carry Serious New Risk “Algal oil” and “oily yeast” have been aggressively promoted as promising alternatives to palm oil and potential saviours of orangutans. At the […]
-
New Report: Biotech industry lobby intent on ransack of EU GMO rules
Reposted from Corporate Europe Observatory. Food safety, the environment, and consumer choice are at stake, as biotech industry lobbyists pressure decision makers to deregulate a new generation of genetic engineering techniques ahead of a crucial European Commission decision in February. “Biotech lobby’s push for new GMOs to escape regulation”, a new report by Corporate Europe […]
-
Brussels biotech lobby’s last push for ‘GM 2.0’ technologies to escape regulation
by Nina Holland (The Ecologist) Biotech corporations have invested billions in a range of new ‘GM 2.0’ technologies designed to redesign the world’s germplasm and create new generations of super-GMOs, writes Nina Holland. And powerful investors have no intention of letting tedious EU regulations get in the way of the profits they are now poised […]
-
ETC’s Irreverent Review of 2015… and (possibly) Irrelevant Preview of 2016
Download the full review here, for ETC’s SynBio updates and industry developments. The Year that Ended Dangerously If El Niño weren’t enough, the extraordinary winds that struck Yemen and Mexico’s Pacific Coast were matched by record-breaking forest fires in the Indonesian archipelago, droughts, torrential rains and floods from Australia to the British Isles and heat-waves on the east coast of […]
-
New GM food could end up on your plate untested and unlabelled
by franziska achterberg (Greenpeace EU Unit) After two decades of commercial use, Europeans still can’t stomach genetically modified (GM) food. But their producers may have found a way to bypass public opposition and safety regulation. A new range of GM plants and animals could soon end up on the dinner table without any testing or labelling, […]
-
GM 2.0? ‘Gene-editing’ produces GMOs that must be regulated as GMOs
This is an important article about the battle to ensure that gene-editing is treated under GM regulations in the EU. It’s relevant to synbio as many of the new “breeding techniques” under consideration by the EU – such as the genome editing described in the article below – are increasingly seen as common practices within […]
-
Re-engineering life? The dangers of ‘next generation’ biofuels
by Almuth Ernsting, Ecologist The biofuels of the future will depend on microbes, writes Almuth Ernsting: algae to produce the biomass, and fungi or bacteria to break cellulose down into useful molecules. Just one problem: wild strains aren’t up to the job. So scientists are trying to genetically engineer supercharged ‘synthetic biology’ variants – which […]
-
“Jurassic World” and the Dinosaurs at the USDA
by Rachel Smolker, Truthout The new movie Jurassic World offers more than a few lessons relevant to the state of our world. There is the obvious point about scientists bringing back to life genetically engineered dinosaurs with no real concern for the havoc they may wreak. Then there is the very clear link to real-world […]