Quick Reads

Case Studies in the Impact of Synthetic Biology: Coconut oil, palm kernel oil and babassu

Submitted by Dru Oja Jay on

Click on the links below to download the case studies.
 
“Synthetic biologists” apply computer-aided design and engineering to living organisms. The aim is to redesign existing biological organisms and even to create entirely new ones. Synthetic biology is “extreme genetic engineering” and its goal is to derive commercially-valuable compounds from novel living organisms rather than from conventional sources (e.g., crops, petroleum).
 

Delegados de la ONU esquivan el tema de la geoingeniería

Submitted by Joëlle Deschambault on

Prevalece la cordura en el Grupo de Trabajo II (WGII) del IPCC

El Panel Intergubernamental sobre Cambio Climático (IPCC) presentó ayer su 50 Reporte de Evaluación (AR5), en cuyo Resumen para Elaboradores de Políticas no se encuentra ninguna referencia a la geoingeniería, aunque abunda sobre sus efectos negativos en su informe completo. Publicado después de una semana de negociaciones del Grupo de Trabajo II (WGII, que trabaja sobre las vulnerabilidades humanas y ecológicas frente al cambio climático y las opciones para adaptación), el informe de ahora representa una victoria precaria sobre la creciente presión que sufre el IPCC por parte de los promotores de la geoingeniería y algunos gobiernos —como Rusia, Estados Unidos, Canadá y Reino Unido— para legitimar la geoingeniería como solución al cambio climático.

UN Delegates Dodge Geoengineering Bullet Point

Submitted by Dru Oja Jay on

Cooler heads prevail in IPCC’s Working Group II

The latest instalment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Assessment Report (AR5), released today, contains no reference to geoengineering in its Summary for Policymakers, though it attributes a slew of negative effects to so-called planet hacking in its full report. Released after a week-long negotiating session of Working Group II (WGII, which assesses the human and ecological vulnerabilities to climate change and options to adapt), today’s report represents a precarious victory over ongoing pressure within the IPCC – by geoengineering proponents and some governments (e.g., Russia, the USA, Canada and the UK) – to legitimize geoengineering as a solution to climate change.

¿Suicidio en Carnaval? Terminator regresa al Congreso en Brasil

Submitted by Joëlle Deschambault on

Mientras suena la samba, aumenta la presión para aprobar las semillas suicidas

Firme la petición para detenerla

Organizaciones de la sociedad civil brasileña alertaron ayer que una iniciativa de ley iniciada en 2007 para revertir la prohibición de uso de semillas Terminator podría reactivarse (nuevamente) en el Congreso de ese país. Existen dos iniciativas al respecto desde hace varios años, pero una de ellas, introducida en 2007 por el diputado Eduardo Sciarra del PSD (la PL 268/2007) comenzó a reactivarse en julio pasado y llegó a ponerse en primer plano en octubre 2013. La legalización de Terminator en Brasil tendría implicaciones globales, comenzando por la violación a la moratoria sobre Tecnologías de Restricción del Uso Genético (TRUG, apodadas tecnologías Terminator), vigente desde el año 2000 en el Convenio sobre Diversidad Biológica.

Suicide at the Carnaval? Terminator is back in the Brazilian Congress

Submitted by Joëlle Deschambault on

Push to Pass Suicide Seeds Legislation Could Come While Deputies Dance

Push to Pass Suicide Seeds Legislation Could Come While Deputies Dance

Sign the petition to stop it!

Brazilian civil society organizations warned yesterday that a 2007 bill to end Brazil’s ban on Terminator seeds could soon be on the move (again) in the Brazilian Congress. While two bills have been on the congressional agenda for several years, a 2007 bill (PL 268/2007, filed by Rep. Eduardo Sciarra – PSD party) began moving through the Congress last July and came to a head last October. The legalizing of Terminator in Brazil would have global implications, including as a violation of the United Nations moratorium on Terminator technologies, in place since 2000 at the Convention on Biological Diversity.

¿Quién nos alimentará? Libro de bolsillo

Submitted by Veronica Villa on

La cadena industrial de producción de alimentos o las redes campesinas

Edición 2014 de la investigación del Grupo ETC sobre dos sistemas alimentarios: el de la producción industrial de alimentos y el de las redes campesinas de subsistencia. Descargue el PDF para tener el libro de bolsillo. Para una versión con todas las fuentes y referencias, escriba a veronica@etcgroup.org.

That Was The Year – Unlucky 13

Submitted by Joëlle Deschambault on

Rio+20’s Year of Postpartum Digressions

Unlucky 13: Our 2012 year-end review, “193 Shades of Gray,” stumbled into the surreal, post-Rio+20 “Hunger Games” as FAO admitted that it has been underestimating the number of hungry people and overestimating future food requirements and, in a cowardly act of conspicuous consumption, the UN Committee on World Food Security failed to condemn biofuels; Warsaw withered the way of every climate conference since Kyoto; the USA, UK, China and Russia significantly underestimated GHG emissions while the UK, Japan, New Zealand and Australia concluded that they just don’t give a dam

Competencia para poner nombre a la vainilla artificial

Submitted by Veronica Villa on

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

Submitted by Joëlle Deschambault on

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.

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