NewGenics: February 2006

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Terminator Technology: "I'll be back."

From a Ban Terminator (an organization opposed to the Terminator technology) press release:

In October 1999, in response to worldwide opposition, Monsanto publicly pledged not to commercialize Terminator seeds. Then-CEO, Robert Shapiro, wrote an open letter to the Rockefeller Foundation, stating, "I am writing to let you know that we are making a public commitment not to commercialize sterile seed technologies, such as the one dubbed 'Terminator.'"

Now, Monsanto has revised its commitment, pledging to keep Terminator only out of food crops - opening the door to the use of Terminator in cotton, tobacco, pharmaceutical crops and grass with sterility genes. Referring to new versions of GURTs, Monsanto's 'pledge' now says, "Monsanto does not rule out the potential development and use of one of these technologies in the future. The company will continue to study the risks and benefits of this technology on a case-by-case basis."

posted by ryan griffis # 1:50 PM 0 comments links to this post

Friday, February 03, 2006

Captain Hook Awards for BioPiracy

At the 2006 meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity (March 20th-31st in Curitiba, Brazil) civil society organisations from The Coalition Against Biopiracy (CAB) will be awarding prizes to the individuals, corporations and governments who either committed biopiracy* or fought against it in the last few years. The Captain Hook awards for Biopiracy is a biannual event exposing the ongoing theft of our biological and cultural heritage through life patenting, new technologies and corporate plunder. We need your nominations now.
Point out the pirates! What is the most outrageous biopiracy case in your country? Who is ripping off indigenous knowledge in your community? Who is grabbing your genes, patenting your plants or monopolizing your molecules? Has anyone co-opted your culture? Trademarked your patron saint? Claimed ownership of your language? Help put the spotlight on the greediest biopirates from across the globe by nominating them for the Captain Hook Awards for Biopiracy. Only the nastiest offenders will skulk away as winners.
Reward the resistance! It's not all skulls and crossbones. The CAB also awards those who have fought bravely and successfully to defend the commons. You can also nominate those who have fended off acts of biopiracy, repelled patents or defended people's rights. The winners will receive a "Cog" award (named after 'cog' ships designed to ward off pirates).
via the ETC Group

posted by ryan griffis # 10:49 AM 0 comments links to this post

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Pew Poll Update

"Americans' knowledge of genetically modified (GM) foods and animals continues to remain low, and their opinions reflect that they are particularly uncomfortable with animal cloning, according to a new survey released today by the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology.
GM foods have been in the U.S. marketplace for the past nine years. Today, approximately 105.7 million acres of GM crops are grown in the U.S., with farmers producing GM corn, cotton, soybeans, canola, squash and papaya. Other countries are beginning to develop their own GM food products which they may be interested in importing into the U.S."
Check out the full summary.