Publications

For Immediate Release: "Next Generation Biofuels": Bursting The New "Green" Bubble; Letter challenges unrealistic promises from an unsustainable industry

For Immediate Release                             January 15, 2009

"Next Generation Biofuels": Bursting The New "Green" Bubble

Letter challenges unrealistic promises from an unsustainable industry

United States--A diverse alliance of organizations published an open letter [1] today in the U.S. and internationally warning of the dangers of industrially produced biofuels (called agrofuels by critics). The letter explains why large-scale industrial production of transport fuels and other energy from plants such as corn, sugar cane, oilseeds, trees, grasses, or so-called agricultural and woodland waste threatens forests, biodiversity, food sovereignty, community-based land rights and will worsen climate change. With the...   Read More




Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biotechnology, Corporate Concentration, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Intellectual Property & Patents, Synthetic Biology

LOHAFEX Update: Geo-engineering ship plows on as Environment Ministry calls for a halt

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ETC Group
News Release
January 13, 2009
www.etcgroup.org

LOHAFEX Update:
Geo-engineering ship plows on as Environment Ministry calls for a halt

Amid a growing storm of protest stretching across four continents, the Federal Environment Minister of Germany, Sigmar Gabriel, has reportedly called for the German research vessel, RV Polarstern, to halt its controversial ocean fertilization experiment.(1) However, the geo-engineers on board appear to be ignoring the Minister's call. Already at sea, they are heading full steam for their intended dumping site.

Last week, ETC Group and our allies in Germany, India and South Africa reported on an Indo-German research expedition, codenamed LOHAFEX, which was about to breach the global moratorium on ocean fertilisation established through the UN Convention on...   Read More











Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Geoengineering

German Geo-engineers Show Iron Will to Defy Global UN Moratorium

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A controversial climate-engineering expedition –  flying the German flag –  set sail from South Africa, in defiance of a United Nations agreement signed by 191 nations and brokered by Germany last May. In response, civil society groups are calling on governments and the UN to take action.

The RV Polarstern, a German research vessel owned by the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research of Bremerhaven, Germany, left Cape Town on 7th January 2009 to begin a large scale geo-engineering experiment known as LOHAFEX. The LOHAFEX voyage, approved by the...   Read More











Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Geoengineering

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