Publications

News Release: Who Owns Nature?

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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

Who Owns Nature?

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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.







Categories: BANG/Convergence, Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biotechnology, Corporate Concentration, Human Genomics, Intellectual Property & Patents, Synthetic Biology

As Extreme Genetic Engineers Gather in Hong Kong, Critics Warn of Corporate Grab on Plant Life: SynBio 4.0 = SynBio-4-profit

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Synthetic biologists, a brave new breed of science entrepreneurs who engineer life-forms from scratch, will hold their largest-ever global gathering in Hong Kong, October 10-12, known as "Synthetic Biology 4.0." Although most people have never heard of synthetic biology, it's moving full speed ahead fueled by giant agribusiness, energy and chemical corporations with little debate about who will control the technology, how it will be regulated (or not) and despite grave concerns surrounding the safety and security risks of designer organisms. Corporate investors/partners include BP,...   Read More











Categories: BANG/Convergence, Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biological Warfare, Biopiracy, Biotechnology, Corporate Concentration, Synthetic Biology

Commodifying Nature's Last Straw? Extreme Genetic Engineering and the Post-Petroleum Sugar Economy

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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

"Failure as Usual" Food Summit

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June 2008
ETC Group Translator
Ciao FAO: Another "Failure-as-Usual" Food Summit
 
Contrary to the opinion of many, June's Food Summit actually did something. It signaled the beginning of the end for the multilateral system as we know it. Over the next six months the food emergency - and the international institutions designed to address it - could get worse.
 
The full text offers a line-by-line interpretation of the Food Summit's final declaration.
 
Issue: During the 3-5 June 2008 World Food Summit, governments patched together sufficient funds to keep the lid on food rebellions for a few months but all the fundamental and long-term institutional and financial problems remain. In Rome, governments opted for a mythical "techno-fix" led by agribusiness in collaboration with the Gates Foundation and...   Read More









Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biotechnology, CGIAR, Corporate Concentration, FAO, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Intellectual Property & Patents, Public / Private Relations

The World Torpedoes Ocean Fertilization

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ETC Group
News Release
Friday, May 30, 2008
www.etcgroup.org

The World Torpedoes Ocean Fertilization:

End of Round One on Geo-Engineering

191 countries agree to a landmark moratorium on ocean CO2 sequestration

As the ninth meeting of the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) draws to a close in Bonn, Germany the world’s governments are set to unanimously agree a wide-ranging “de-facto moratorium” on ocean fertilization activities. This first-ever global decision on a geo-engineering technology should spell the end of commercial plans to sequester carbon dioxide by dumping nutrients into the open ocean. Nonetheless, one ocean fertilization company, Climos Inc. of San Francisco, appears to be moving full steam ahead in defiance of international consensus.
 
“The message from the UN...   Read More












Categories: Geoengineering

Global Moratorium on Ocean Fertilization?

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ETC Group
News Release
Friday, May 30, 2008
www.etcgroup.org

A Global Moratorium on Ocean Fertilization?

Delays, drama and diversions dog U.N attempts to reign-in commercial geo-engineers.
 
Stalled at the eleventh hour by three isolated countries that are attempting to block consensus, most of the world’s environment ministries and others are on the brink of reaching agreement on a worldwide moratorium on commercial ocean fertilization – controversial proposals to dump nutrients in the ocean to artificially alter the climate. The three blocking countries, Australia, China and Brazil have spent several days manipulating the process to avoid discussion and prevent progress, much to the exasperation of delegates and observers. The clock runs out on negotiations at 6pm today (Friday).
 
Following...   Read More











Categories: Geoengineering

Call to Action on World Food Emergency

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26 May 2008
ETC Group
ANNOUNCEMENT
www.etcgroup.org

Call to Action on World Food Emergency

On 22 May, International Biodiversity Day, ETC Group joined with civil society and social movements from around the world to launch a "Call to Action on the World Food Emergency."  ETC Group is attending the 9th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Bonn, 19-30 May 2008.

ETC Group invites you to sign on to the international Call to Action by social movements and civil society on the World Food Emergency and the underlying loss of biodiversity.  To read the full statement in English, French and Spanish, go here .

No More “Failures-as-Usual"!
...   Read More














Categories: FAO

Captain Hook Awards for Biopiracy 2008

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(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 Bonn

Today 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

Patenting the "Climate Genes" ...and Capturing the Climate Agenda

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Communiqué
May/June 2008
Issue # 99

Patenting the “Climate Genes”…
And Capturing the Climate Agenda

Issue: The world’s largest seed and agrochemical corporations are stockpiling hundreds of monopoly patents on genes in plants that the companies will market as crops genetically engineered to withstand environmental stresses such as drought, heat, cold, floods, saline soils, and more. BASF, Monsanto, Bayer, Syngenta, Dupont and biotech partners have filed 532 patent documents (a total of 55 patent families) on so-called “climate ready” genes at patent offices around the world. In the face of climate chaos and a deepening world food crisis, the Gene Giants are gearing up for a PR offensive to re-brand themselves as climate saviours. The focus on so-called climate-ready genes is a golden...   Read More







Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biotechnology, CGIAR, Corporate Concentration, FAO, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Intellectual Property & Patents, Public / Private Relations

News Release: Gene Giants Grab "Climate Genes"

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ETC Group
News Release
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
www.etcgroup.org
 

Gene Giants Grab "Climate Genes"

Amid Global Food Crisis, Biotech Companies are Exposed as
Climate Change Profiteers
 
 
A report released today by Canadian-based civil society organization, ETC Group, reveals that the world's largest seed and agrochemical corporations are stockpiling hundreds of monopoly patents on genes in plants that the companies will market as crops genetically engineered to withstand environmental stresses associated with climate change - including drought, heat, cold, floods, saline soils, and more. ETC Group's report warns that - rather than a solution for confronting climate change - the promise of so-called "climate-ready"...   Read More










Categories: Biotechnology, CGIAR, Corporate Concentration, FAO, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Intellectual Property & Patents, Public / Private Relations

Hollow Victory: Enola Bean Patent Smashed At Last (Maybe)

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ETC Group
News Release
29 April 2008
www.etcgroup.org

Hollow Victory: Enola Bean Patent Smashed At Last (Maybe)

The infamous Enola bean patent, first denounced by ETC Group eight years ago as a textbook case of biopiracy, was struck down yesterday (April 29, 2008) by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office in Washington, D.C. One of the most controversial plant patents in history, the effort to defeat it was unprecedented because it involved the United Nations and international plant breeding institutes.

“Many people are calling the PTO’s decision to reject the Enola bean patent a victory, but we’re inclined to call it a travesty,” said Hope Shand of ETC Group. “In essence, the U.S. patent system allowed the owner of a flagrantly unjust patent to legally monopolize markets and destroy competition – for close to half...   Read More










Categories: Biopiracy

The Coalition Against Biopiracy today calls for nominations for the Fifth Captain Hook Awards

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News Release
Coalition Against Biopiracy
7 March 2008
www.captainhookawards.org

Ahoy, Mates! The Coalition Against Biopiracy today calls for nominations for the Fifth Captain Hook Awards

*** Please Circulate to Your Networks throughout the Seven Seas ***

What's the most scandalous case of biopiracy[1] in your country? Who's ripping off indigenous knowledge in your community? Which privateer is most egregiously pillaging the global commons for profit? Who's monopolizing your genes or patenting your plants?

Nominate your least favorite pirate for a 2008 Captain Hook Award. All outrageous achievements in biopiracy deserve recognition!

Nominate your most admired biopiracy-resistor for a 2008 Cog...   Read More














Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biopiracy, Cultural Diversity, Intellectual Property & Patents, "New Enclosures", Public / Private Relations

Direct-to-Consumer DNA Testing and the Myth of Personalized Medicine: Spit Kits, SNP Chips and Human Genomics

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ETC Group
3 March 2008                            
www.etcgroup.org

Special Report on Human Genomics, Part I

Direct-to-Consumer DNA Testing and the Myth of Personalized Medicine:
Spit Kits, SNP Chips and Human Genomics

In the coming months, ETC Group will publish a series of reports on the impact and implications of human genomics. The topic of the first report in the series is the burgeoning Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) genetic testing industry, which is promising consumers a guidebook for maintaining health as well as a gene-based horoscope predicting future illness. The second report will examine large-scale human genomics...   Read More










Categories: Cultural Diversity, Human Genomics, Public / Private Relations

Svalbard's Doomsday Vault: The Global Seed Vault Raises Political/Conservation Debate

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The swarm of media attention focusing on today's opening of the Global Seed Vault in Norway's high Arctic may overshadow an even bigger news story. Yesterday, 26 February, the Norwegian government pledged to give 0.1% of money spent on commercial seed sales to support Farmers' Rights, and challenged other governments to do the same. The critical message is that even the most secure gene bank storage is not the ultimate solution. Governments must provide support to farmers to improve local conservation and breeding, and help them obtain access to far away seed accessions. Global food security depends upon a coherent in situ (on-farm) and ex situ  (gene bank) strategy. The need to support farmers' on-farm conservation and breeding work is urgent.

On the occasion of the opening of the Global Seed Vault in Svalbard, Norway, ETC Group releases a new Communiqué, "Svalbard's...   Read More



Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, CGIAR, FAO, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Public / Private Relations