Tag: synthetic biology

  • 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 […]

  • Syn Bio & Related Events at CBD COP13

    Syn Bio & Related Events at CBD COP13

    There’s an exciting program of events covering synthetic biology, GMO 2.0, biosafety, gene drives and lots more at the Convention on Biological Diversity COP13 in Cancun over the next 2 weeks. If you’re going to be in Cancun it’s well worth checking these out! Download the flyer MON, DEC 5 @18:15/BUSINESS GROUP MEETING ROOM, SUNRISE […]

  • Gene Editing and Seed Stealing

    Gene Editing and Seed Stealing

    by Chee Yoke Ling and Edward Hammond (Project Syndicate) AUSTIN, TEXAS – Four hundred years ago, John Rolfe used tobacco seeds pilfered from the West Indies to develop Virginia’s first profitable export, undermining the tobacco trade of Spain’s Caribbean colonies. More than 200 years later, another Briton, Henry Wickham, took seeds for a rubber-bearing tree […]

  • A Collision Course with Unintended Consequences

    A Collision Course with Unintended Consequences

    by Melody Meyer (Organic Matters) In an early morning jaunt to Sacramento last week my car was rear ended.  I serve on the California Organic Products Advisory Committee (who by the way are looking for new members), and was on my way to attend a subcommittee meeting when boom—a fine young man rammed me in […]

  • Webinar: Are GMOs 2.0 in your food and cosmetics?

    Webinar: Are GMOs 2.0 in your food and cosmetics?

    Movements & Emerging Technologies Webinars present: Are GMOs 2.0 in your food and cosmetics? An introduction to synthetic biology for shoppers Companies are sneaking new GMO foods into our food and cosmetics: gene-silenced apples, a GMO potato, synthetic biology flavors and fragrances are on their way to market, or already there — and they may […]

  • In the fight for our genes, could we lose what makes us human?

    In the fight for our genes, could we lose what makes us human?

    by Ziyaad Bhorat (Open Democracy) There’s more to human beings than biology and physiology—and it shouldn’t be for sale. In the last 70 years we’ve come a long way towards unraveling the building blocks of human life. The human genome has been identified, sequenced, mapped, decoded, and interfered with. We’ve used this knowledge to clone […]

  • The National Academies’ Gene Drive study has ignored important and obvious issues

    The National Academies’ Gene Drive study has ignored important and obvious issues

    by Jim Thomas (The Guardian): ‘Gene drives’ seem to be the ultimate high-leverage technology. Yesterday’s report from the US National Academies begun the job of describing what is at stake, but it missed some important questions. If there is a prize for the fastest emerging tech controversy of the century the ‘gene drive’ may have […]

  • Permanently changing a species: What could go wrong?

    by Dana Perls, Food and Technology campaigner (Friends of the Earth US) No commercial or environmental release of gene drives, says Friends of the Earth The National Academies of Sciences released a new report today, which calls for robust safety assessments for “gene drive modified organisms.” The NAS says the controversial new genetic engineering technology […]

  • Stop The Gene Bomb! ETC Group Comment on NAS Report on Gene Drives

    Stop The Gene Bomb! ETC Group Comment on NAS Report on Gene Drives

    The National Academy of Sciences is releasing a report about “gene drives”, which are attempts to cause entire populations to inherit certain traits, such as reducing reproductive capacity, and which can cause species crashes, or even extinction. ETC Group have countered with this news release on the topic: 8th June 2016 · First study on […]