Category: Corporate Wheeling & Dealing

  • News Release: “Bleeding” veggie burger has “no basis for safety,” according to FDA

    News Release: “Bleeding” veggie burger has “no basis for safety,” according to FDA

    Documents show that makers of the “Impossible Burger” ignored FDA’s warnings about safety of burger’s key GMO ingredient Cross-posted from ETC Group.  August 8, 2017 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Creators of a fake-meat burger made with a high-profile genetically engineered ingredient may have landed their experimental industry in a sizzling food safety mess, casting doubt on […]

  • Is “Food-Tech” the Future of Food?

    by Dana Perls, senior food and technology campaigner with Friends of the Earth US. Cross-posted from   https://medium.com/@foe_us/is-food-tech-the-future-of-food-49bd414cfb8b  Today in San Francisco at the Future Food-Tech conference, multinational food and agrichemical corporations, Silicon Valley investors, PR companies, big ag astroturf groups, and biotech startups are gathering to map out the future of our food system — and attract […]

  • Coca-Cola, Clarins, DivSeek & Canada win Biopiracy Awards at the COP 13

    Coca-Cola, Clarins, DivSeek & Canada win Biopiracy Awards at the COP 13

    by Friends of the Earth International Coca-Cola, Clarins, DivSeek and the governments of Canada and Brasil,  were the winners of the 6th “Captain Hook Awards” ceremony that honored the five most important actors of the world of biopiracy this year and in which in which Friends of the Earth International participated. The show was organized […]

  • The Monsanto–Bayer tie-up is just one of seven; Mega-Mergers and Big Data Domination Threaten Seeds, Food Security

    The Monsanto–Bayer tie-up is just one of seven; Mega-Mergers and Big Data Domination Threaten Seeds, Food Security

    by ETC Group Policymakers could still block the agribiz mergers; peasants and farmers will continue the fight for seeds and rights Wednesday’s confirmation that Monsanto and Bayer have agreed to a $66 billion merger is just the latest of four M&A announcements, but at least three more game-changing mergers are in play (and flying under […]

  • Why Kickstarter’s Glowing Plant Left Backers in the Dark

    by Antonio Regalado (MIT Technology Review) In any discussion of biohacking, Exhibit A is likely to be the “glowing plant,” the wildly successful 2013 Kickstarter campaign that raised $484,013 to create bioluminescent plants visible at night. Just one problem, though. There is still no glowing plant. The Glowing Plant project, since renamed Taxa Biotechnologies, has […]

  • Don’t Eat the Yellow Rice: The Danger of Deploying Vitamin A Golden Rice

    Don’t Eat the Yellow Rice: The Danger of Deploying Vitamin A Golden Rice

    by  Ted Greiner, PhD (Independent Science News) What better way to discredit your critics than to rope in 107 naive Nobel Prize winners (all without relevant expertise) to criticize your opposition? But such tactics are not new. Long ago, the GMO industry spent well over $50 million to promote “Golden Rice” as the solution to […]

  • 107 Nobel Laureate Attack on Greenpeace Traced Back to Biotech PR Operators

    by Jonathan Latham, PhD (Independent Science News) Greenpeace was denied entrance yesterday (June 30) to a National Press Club Event in Washington, DC of 107 Nobel Laureates. The event was ostensibly organised by a scientific group calling itself Support Precision Agriculture to publicise a letter signed by 107 Nobel Laureates demanding that Greenpeace cease its […]

  • Webinar: Outsmarting Nature?

    Webinar: Outsmarting Nature?

    Movements & Emerging Technologies Webinars present: Outsmarting Nature? A webinar on Synthetic Biology for Crops and Agriculture What’s the role of synthetic biology in our food system and how does it relate to “climate-smart” agriculture? What are the costs and risks? Host: Tom Philpott Food & Agriculture Journalist with Mother Jones Expert: Pat Mooney Executive […]

  • Meet the New Stevia! GMOs 2.0 Get Dressed for Success

    Meet the New Stevia! GMOs 2.0 Get Dressed for Success

    by Stacy Malkan (The Huffington Post) Our culture is smitten with the notion that technology can save us – or at least create great business opportunities! Cargill, for example, is working on a new food technology that mimics stevia, a sugar substitute derived from plant leaves, for the “exploding sports nutrition market.” Cargill’s new product, […]

  • Mascoma: The biggest misspending of public funds for cellulosic biofuels ever?

    This is an investigation of Mascoma Corporation, a start-up biofuels company which may have misspent more public funds intended for building advanced biofuels refineries than any other company in North America. Download the investigation Summary: Mascoma took at least $100m and possibly over $155m in public funding intended for building integrated biorefineries. Their biggest donor […]