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Synthetic Biology
Synthetic biology brings together engineering and the life sciences in order to design and construct new biological parts, devices and systems that do not currently exist in the natural world or to tweak the designs of existing biological systems. Synthetic biologists, engaged in a kind of "extreme genetic engineering," hope to construct artificial living systems to perform specific tasks such as produce pharmaceutical compounds or energy.
Latest Publications
Type: News Item
Date: Nov 12, 2008
Language: English
Date: Nov 12, 2008
Language: English
News Release: Who Owns Nature?
Download PDF (125 KB) - about 22 seconds on a 56k modemWho Owns Nature?
New report warns of corporate concentration, commodification of nature; highlights global resistance grounded in "Food Sovereignty"
ETC Group today releases a 48-page report, "Who Owns Nature?" on corporate concentration in commercial food, farming, health and the strategic push to commodify the planet's remaining natural resources.
In a world where market research is becoming increasingly proprietary and pricey, ETC Group's report names names, discloses market share and provides top 10 industry rankings up and down the corporate food chain. Not all the corporations identified in ETC... Read More
Categories: BANG/Convergence, Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biotechnology, Corporate Concentration, Human Genomics, Intellectual Property & Patents, Synthetic Biology
Type: Communiqué
Date: Nov 12, 2008
Language: English
Date: Nov 12, 2008
Language: English
Who Owns Nature?
Download PDF (7 MB) - about 1196 seconds on a 56k modemWho Owns Nature?
In this 100th issue of the ETC Communiqué we update Oligopoly, Inc. – our ongoing series tracking corporate concentration in the life industry. We also analyze the past three decades of agribusiness efforts to monopolize the 24% of living nature that has been commodified, and expose a new strategy to capture the remaining three-quarters that has, until now, remained beyond the market economy. To download the full 48-page report, click on 'Download PDF,' above.
Categories: BANG/Convergence, Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biotechnology, Corporate Concentration, Human Genomics, Intellectual Property & Patents, Synthetic Biology
Type: News Item
Date: Oct 09, 2008
Language: English
Date: Oct 09, 2008
Language: English
As Extreme Genetic Engineers Gather in Hong Kong, Critics Warn of Corporate Grab on Plant Life: SynBio 4.0 = SynBio-4-profit
Download PDF (138 KB) - about 25 seconds on a 56k modemETC Group
News Release
9 October 2008
www.etcgroup.org
News Release
9 October 2008
www.etcgroup.org
The Last Straw?
As Extreme Genetic Engineers Gather in Hong Kong,
Critics Warn of Corporate Grab on Plant Life
SynBio 4.0 = SynBio-4-profit
Categories: BANG/Convergence, Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biological Warfare, Biopiracy, Biotechnology, Corporate Concentration, Synthetic Biology
Type: Other
Date: Oct 09, 2008
Language: English
Date: Oct 09, 2008
Language: English
Commodifying Nature's Last Straw? Extreme Genetic Engineering and the Post-Petroleum Sugar Economy
Download PDF (414 KB) - about 74 seconds on a 56k modem
Download PDF2 (3 MB) - about 522 seconds on a 56k modemPeak oil, skyrocketing fuel costs and climate crisis are driving corporate enthusiasm for a “biological engineering revolution” that some predict will dramatically transform industrial production of food, energy, materials, medicine and all of nature. Advocates of converging technologies promise a greener, cleaner post-petroleum future where the production of economically important compounds depends not on fossil fuels – but on biological manufacturing platforms fueled by plant sugars. It may sound sweet and clean, but the so-called “sugar economy” will also be the catalyst for a corporate
grab on all plant matter – and destruction of biodiversity on a massive scale.
grab on all plant matter – and destruction of biodiversity on a massive scale.
Click on the 'Download PDF' icon above to download ETC Group's 12-page report, Commodifying Nature's Last Straw? Extreme Genetic Engineering and the Post-Petroleum Sugar Economy. (PDF2 above is a higher resolution file.)
Categories: BANG/Convergence, Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biotechnology, Corporate Concentration, Synthetic Biology
Type: News Item
Date: May 21, 2008
Language: English
Date: May 21, 2008
Language: English
Captain Hook Awards for Biopiracy 2008
Download PDF (111 KB) - about 20 seconds on a 56k modem
Download PDF2 (4 MB) - about 765 seconds on a 56k modem(PDF2 above contains the complete poster)
News Release
Coalition Against Biopiracy
Wednesday, 21 May 2008
www.captainhookawards.org
www.etcgroup.org
Captain Hook Awards for Biopiracy 2008
The Coalition Against Biopiracy* exposes Hooks and celebrates Cogs
Winners announced at the UN’s Biodiversity Convention in BonnToday the world learned which corporations, governments, institutions and individuals earned a spot in biopiracy’s hall of shame when the Coalition Against Biopiracy (CAB) announced the winners of the 5th Captain Hook Awards at a lunch-time ceremony during the Ninth Conference of the Parties (COP9) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Bonn, Germany.
“The Maritim Hotel, where the CBD meets this week and next,... Read More
Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biopiracy, Biotechnology, Geoengineering, Human Genomics, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Intellectual Property & Patents, Other, Synthetic Biology, Terminator & Traitor
Type: News Item
Date: Jan 24, 2008
Language: English
Date: Jan 24, 2008
Language: English
Venter Institute Builds Longest Sequence of Synthetic DNA (that Doesn’t Work)
Download PDF (144 KB) - about 26 seconds on a 56k modemETC Group
News Release
24 January 2008
www.etcgroup.org
Venter Institute Builds Longest Sequence of Synthetic DNA (that Doesn’t Work)
“It’s not how long – but how wise” cautions ETC Group
ETC Group today renewed its call for a moratorium on the release and commercialization of synthetic organisms, asserting that societal debate on the oversight of synthetic biology is urgently overdue. The renewed call came as J. Craig Venter’s research team announced that it has constructed a bacterial-length synthetic genome in the lab using mail-order synthetic DNA sequences. They’ve named the synthetic genome, Mycoplasma genitalium JCVI-1.0, and it’s similar to its counterpart in nature, a genital bacterium with the smallest known genome of any free living organism. The announcement is not... Read More
Categories: BANG/Convergence, Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biological Warfare, Biotechnology, Corporate Concentration, Synthetic Biology
Type: Communiqué
Date: Dec 17, 2007
Language: English
Date: Dec 17, 2007
Language: English
Peak Soil + Peak Oil = Peak Spoils
Download PDF (456 KB) - about 81 seconds on a 56k modemCommuniqué
November/December 2007
Issue # 96
Peak Soil + Peak Oil = Peak Spoils
In the name of moving “beyond petroleum,” Big Oil, Gene Giants, governments, start-ups and others are forming partnerships that will extend corporate control over more resources in every part of the globe – while keeping the root causes of climate change intact. With grudging recognition that first-generation agrofuels are neither economical nor ecological, investors turn to other life-based technologies, including synthetic biology, for the next alternative fuel fix.
| Issue: In OECD countries, massive government incentives and subsidies – estimated to be as high as US$15 billion/year – are stoking... Read More |
Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biotechnology, Corporate Concentration, FAO, Synthetic Biology
Type: News Item
Date: Oct 17, 2007
Language: English
Date: Oct 17, 2007
Language: English
Syns of Omission: Civil Society Organizations Respond to Report on Synthetic Biology Governance from the J. Craig Venter Institute and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Download PDF (146 KB) - about 26 seconds on a 56k modemETC Group
News Release
17 October 2007
www.etcgroup.org
Syns of Omission:
Civil Society Organizations Respond to Report on Synthetic Biology Governance from the J. Craig Venter Institute and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
A report released today on policy options for governance of synthetic biology is a disappointing effort that fails to address wider societal concerns about the rapid deployment of a powerful and controversial new technology. Synthetic biology aims to commercialize new biological parts, devices and living organisms that are constructed from synthetic DNA - including dangerous pathogens. Synthetic biologists are attempting to harness cells as tiny factories for industrial production of chemicals, including pharmaceuticals and fuels. ETC Group describes the synthetic biology approach as "extreme genetic engineering."
Categories: Synthetic Biology
Type: News Item
Date: Jun 28, 2007
Language: English
Date: Jun 28, 2007
Language: English
Synthia’s last hurdle?
Download PDF (128 KB) - about 23 seconds on a 56k modemETC Group
News Release
28 June 2007
www.etcgroup.org
Synthia’s last hurdle?
Synthia – the “Original Syn” artificial microbe – may have jumped a hurdle that Dolly – the cloned sheep – never couldSynthia, 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... Read More
Categories: Synthetic Biology
Type: News Item
Date: Jun 25, 2007
Language: English
Date: Jun 25, 2007
Language: English
The G(e)nomes of Zurich: Civil Society Calls for Urgent Controls on Synthetic Life
Download PDF (160 KB) - about 29 seconds on a 56k modem*this publication also available in German.
ETC Group
News Release
25 June 2007
www.etcgroup.org
The G(e)nomes of Zurich: Civil Society Calls for Urgent Controls on Synthetic Life*
Follow Syn Bio meeting on ETC Group’s blog
Scientists and industrialists in the controversial new field of synthetic biology (building life-forms from scratch) are meeting in Zurich, Switzerland this week amidst claims that the world’s first entirely human-made organism may be only weeks away from creation. Swiss and international civil society groups are calling for swift action to control this technology but the scientists themselves are advancing pre-emptive proposals to evade regulation. As scientists meet in... Read More
Categories: Synthetic Biology
Type: News Item
Date: Jun 07, 2007
Language: English
Date: Jun 07, 2007
Language: English
Patenting Pandora’s Bug: Goodbye, Dolly...Hello, Synthia! J. Craig Venter Institute Seeks Monopoly Patents on the World’s First-Ever Human-Made Life Form
Download PDF (143 KB) - about 26 seconds on a 56k modem
Download PDF2 (155 KB) - about 28 seconds on a 56k modemPatenting Pandora's Bug
Goodbye, Dolly...Hello, Synthia!
J. Craig Venter Institute Seeks Monopoly Patents on the World's First-Ever Human-Made Life Form
ETC Group Will Challenge Patents on "Synthia" - Original Syn Organism Created in Laboratory
Ten years after Dolly the cloned sheep made her stunning debut, the J. Craig Venter Institute is applying for a patent on a new biological bombshell - the world's first-ever human-made species. The novel bacterium is made entirely with synthetic DNA in the laboratory.
The Venter Institute - named for its founder and CEO, J.... Read More
Categories: BANG/Convergence, Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biological Warfare, Biotechnology, Geoengineering, Intellectual Property & Patents, Nanotechnology, Other New Technologies, Synthetic Biology
Type: Communiqué
Date: Feb 01, 2007
Language: English
Date: Feb 01, 2007
Language: English
Gambling with Gaia
Download PDF (768 KB) - about 137 seconds on a 56k modemETC Communiqué
Issue # 93
January 2007
Gambling with Gaia
With hopes for Kyoto dimming, some governments may conclude that
massive earth restructuring is the only feasible way out
Issue: Kyoto is fading and carbon trading is a farce. Recognizing this, OECD states can either “bite the bullet” and adopt socially-responsible policies to dramatically cut fossil fuel use and useless consumption or, they can hope for a... Read More
Categories: BANG/Convergence, Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biological Warfare, Biotechnology, Corporate Concentration, Geoengineering, Human Genomics, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Intellectual Property & Patents, Nanotechnology, "New Enclosures", Other New Technologies, Public / Private Relations, Synthetic Biology
Type: Other
Date: Jan 16, 2007
Language: English
Date: Jan 16, 2007
Language: English
Extreme Genetic Engineering: An Introduction to Synthetic Biology
Download PDF (1,005 KB) - about 179 seconds on a 56k modemNews Release
ETC Group
January 16, 2007
www.etcgroup.org
Extreme Genetic Engineering: ETC Group Releases Report on Synthetic Biology
Findings to be presented at World Social Forum in Nairobi - 20-25 January
A new report by the ETC Group concludes that the social, environmental and bio-weapons threats of synthetic biology surpass the possible dangers and abuses of biotech. The full text of the 70-page report, Extreme Genetic Engineering: An... Read More
Categories: BANG/Convergence, Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biological Warfare, Biopiracy, Biotechnology, Intellectual Property & Patents, Nanotechnology, Other New Technologies, Synthetic Biology
Type: Other
Date: Sep 12, 2006
Language: English
Date: Sep 12, 2006
Language: English
Nanotech Rx-Medical applications of Nano-scale technologies: What Impact on Marginalized communities?
Download PDF (1 MB) - about 188 seconds on a 56k modemNanotech Rx
Medical applications of Nano-scale technologies: What Impact on Marginalized communities?Issue: Medical applications of nano-scale technologies have the potential to revolutionize healthcare by delivering powerful tools for diagnosing and treating disease at the molecular level. But the current zeal for nano-enabled
medicines could divert scarce medical R&D funds away from essential health services and direct resources away from non-medical aspects of community health and wellbeing. Although nanomedicine is being touted as a solution to pressing health needs in the global South, it is being driven from the North and is designed primarily for wealthy markets. Using nano-scale... Read More
Categories: BANG/Convergence, Biotechnology, Corporate Concentration, Human Genomics, Intellectual Property & Patents, Nanotechnology, Other New Technologies, Synthetic Biology
Type: News Item
Date: May 18, 2006
Language: English
Date: May 18, 2006
Language: English
Synthetic Biology - Global Societal Review Urgent!
Download PDF (102 KB) - about 18 seconds on a 56k modem19th May 2006 NEWS RELEASE
Global Coalition Sounds the Alarm on Synthetic Biology,
Demands Oversight and Societal Debate
Today, a coalition of thirty-eight international organizations including scientists, environmentalists, trade unionists, biowarfare experts and social justice advocates called for inclusive public debate, regulation and oversight of the rapidly advancing field of synthetic biology - the construction of unique and novel artificial life forms to perform specific tasks. Synthetic biologists are meeting this weekend in Berkeley, California where they plan to announce a voluntary code of self-regulation for their work (1). The organizations signing the Open Letter are calling on synthetic biologists to abandon their proposals for self-governance and to engage in an inclusive process of global societal debate on the implications of their work (see attached Open Letter).
... Read MoreCategories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biological Warfare, Biotechnology, Corporate Concentration, Human Genomics, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Intellectual Property & Patents, Nanotechnology, "New Enclosures", Public / Private Relations, Synthetic Biology