[E-rundbrief] Info 504 - Genetic Engineering and Geoengineering

Matthias Reichl info at begegnungszentrum.at
Sa Feb 3 17:04:06 CET 2007


E-Rundbrief - Info 504 ETC Group (Canada): 
Extreme Genetic Engineering: ETC Group Releases 
Report on Synthetic Biology Findings to be 
presented at World Social Forum in Nairobi - 
20-25 January 2007; ETC Group (Canada): Gambling 
with Gaia - On the Eve of the Release of UN 
Climate Change Report ETC Group Warns that US 
Government's Push for Geoengineering is Unacceptable

Bad Ischl, 3.2.2007

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit

www.begegnungszentrum.at

===========================================================

Extreme Genetic Engineering:

ETC Group Releases Report on Synthetic Biology 
Findings to be presented at World Social Forum in Nairobi - 20-25 January 2007.

ETC Group

January 16, 2007

www.etcgroup.org

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 
Introduction to Synthetic Biology, is available 
for downloading free-of-charge on the ETC Group website:

  http://www.etcgroup.org/upload/publication/602/01/synbioreportweb.pdf

"Genetic engineering is passe," said Pat Mooney, 
Executive Director of ETC Group. "Today, 
scientists aren't just mapping genomes and 
manipulating genes, they're building life from 
scratch - and they're doing it in the absence of 
societal debate and regulatory oversight," said Mooney.

Synbio - dubbed "genetic engineering on steroids" 
- is inspired by the convergence of nano-scale 
biology, computing and engineering. Using a 
laptop computer, published gene sequence 
information and mail- order synthetic DNA, just 
about anyone has the potential to construct genes 
or entire genomes from scratch (including those 
of lethal pathogens). Scientists predict that 
within 2-5 years it will be possible to 
synthesise any virus; the first de novo bacterium 
will likely make its debut in 2007; in 5-10 years 
simple bacterial genomes will be synthesised 
routinely and it will become no big deal to 
cobble together a designer genome, insert it into 
an empty bacterial cell and - voila - give birth 
to a living, self-replicating organism. Other 
synthetic biologists hope to reconfigure the 
genetic pathways of existing organisms to perform 
new functions - such as manufacturing high-value drugs or chemicals.

A clutch of entrepreneurial scientists, including 
the gene maverick J. Craig Venter, is setting up 
synthetic biology companies backed by government 
funding and venture capital. They aim to 
commercialise new biological parts, devices and 
systems that don't exist in the natural world - 
some of which are designed for environmental 
release. Advocates insist that synthetic biology 
is the key to cheap biofuels, a cure for malaria, 
and climate change remediation - media-friendly 
goals that aim to mollify public concerns about a 
dangerous and controversial technology. 
Ultimately synthetic biology means cheaper and 
widely accessible tools to build bioweapons, 
virulent pathogens and artificial organisms that 
could pose grave threats to people and the 
planet. The danger is not just bio-terror, but "bio-error," warns ETC Group.

Despite calls for open source biology, corporate 
and academic scientists are winning exclusive 
monopoly patents on the products and processes of 
synthetic genetics. Like biotech, the power to 
make synthetic life could be concentrated in the 
hands of major multinational firms. As gene 
synthesis becomes cheaper and faster, it will 
become easier to synthesise a microbe than to 
find it in nature or retrieve it from a gene 
bank. Biological samples, sequenced and stored in 
digital form, will move instantaneously across 
the globe and be resurrected in corporate labs 
thousands of miles away - a practice that could 
erode future support for genetic conservation and 
create new challenges for international negotiations on biodiversity.

"Last year, 38 civil society organizations 
rejected proposals for self-regulation of 
synthetic biology put forth by a small group of 
synthetic biologists," said Kathy Jo Wetter of 
ETC Group. "Widespread debate on the social, 
economic and ethical implications of synbio must 
come first - and it must not be limited to 
biosecurity and biosafety issues," said Wetter.

The tools for synthesising genes and genomes are 
widely accessible and advancing at break-neck 
pace. ETC Group's new report concludes that it is 
not enough to regulate synthetic biology on the 
national level. Decisions must be considered in a 
global context, with broad participation from 
civil society and social movements. In keeping 
with the Precautionary Principle, ETC Group 
asserts that - at a minimum - there must be an 
immediate ban on environmental release of de novo 
synthetic organisms until wide societal debate 
and strong governance are in place.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ETC Group News Release February 1, 2007 www.etcgroup.org

Gambling with Gaia

On the Eve of the Release of UN Climate Change 
Report ETC Group Warns that US Government's Push 
for Geoengineering is Unacceptable

On the day before the United Nations 
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 
sounds its loudest alarm yet, ETC Group warns 
that some OECD states, led by the United States, 
are betting on a pie- in-the-sky techno-fix to 
address climate change. "Geoengineering" refers 
to the intentional, large-scale manipulation of 
the environment to bring about environmental 
change. With no hope for Kyoto, little political 
will to ask industry or voters to change 
lifestyles and a growing recognition that carbon 
trading is a farce, some governments are 
concluding that massive earth restructuring is 
the only way out. The Guardian reported earlier 
this week that the US government is lobbying the 
IPCC to promote geoengineering activities, such 
as deliberately polluting the stratosphere to 
deflect sunlight and lower temperatures. (1)

The full text of ETC Group's report is available here:

  <http:// 
www.etcgroup.org/upload/publication/606/01/geoengineeringcomfeb0107.pdf>

"We already know that humans can geoengineer 
planet earth - that's why we have climate 
change," said Pat Mooney, Executive Director of 
ETC Group. "The notion that we can successfully 
correct our unintentional destructiveness with 
intentional geoengineering is ludicrous. For the 
governments who caused the problem to experiment 
together on geoengineering solutions - outside 
the UN and without the participation of the South 
who bear the brunt of global warming and would 
likely bear the risks of geoengineering - is a 
grave miscalculation," said Mooney.

According to ETC Group's 18-page report, 
"Gambling with Gaia," at least 9 national 
governments and the European Union have supported 
experiments to spread iron filings on the ocean 
surface to nurture plankton and sequester carbon 
dioxide. At least a dozen additional countries 
are involved in stratospheric weather/climate 
modification. Commercial carbon traders are 
engaging in ocean fertilization as well. The 
scientific debate and the government/commercial 
experimentation are taking place in the absence of public participation.

ETC Group concludes that geoengineering is the 
wrong response to climate change. Any 
experimentation to alter the structure of the 
oceans or the stratosphere should not proceed 
without thorough and informed public debate on 
its consequences, and UN authorization. 
Geoengineering must not be undertaken 
unilaterally by any nation. The United Nations 
must reaffirm (and, if necessary, expand) the 
Environmental Modification Convention (ENMOD) 
recognizing that any unilateral modification of 
weather or climate is a threat to neighboring 
countries and, very likely, the entire international community.

Other UN agencies dealing with the impact of 
climate change must also address this issue. This 
includes the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate 
Change (IPCC), UN Environment Programme (UNEP), 
UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and 
the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

"Most importantly, the IPCC should revisit the 
concept and practice of carbon trading and 
replace this market-based, so-called 'solution' 
with direct measurable standards for CO2 emission 
reduction at source," said Silvia Ribeiro of ETC 
Group. "Instead of coming up with new 
technological fixes that will cause potentially 
catastrophic problems, particularly for the 
South, OECD states must take seriously efforts to 
reduce their consumption of fossil fuels and to 
curtail other wasteful practices that contribute 
to global warming," added Ribeiro.

The issue of geoengineering and its far-reaching 
social, environmental, ethical and political 
implications should be on the agenda of the UN 
Framework Convention on Climate Change, 3-14 
December 2007 in Bali, and the World 
Meteorological Organization's 15th Congress in May 2007.

ETC contact information:

Pat Mooney: etc at etcgroup.org  +1 613 241-2267

Hope Shand or Kathy Jo Wetter hope at etcgroup.org 
+1 919 960-5767 kjo at etcgroup.org   +1 919 960-5223

Silvia Ribeiro silvia at etcgroup.org + 52 5555 6326 64

(1) David Adam, "US Government answer to global 
warming: Smoke and giant mirrors," The Guardian, 27 January 2007.

===========================================================

Matthias Reichl, Pressesprecher/ press speaker,
     Begegnungszentrum fuer aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
     Center for Encounter and active Non-Violence
     Wolfgangerstr. 26, A-4820 Bad Ischl, Austria,
     fon: +43 6132 24590, Informationen/ informations,
     Impressum in: http://www.begegnungszentrum.at
Spenden-Konto Nr. 0600-970305 (Blz. 20314) 
Sparkasse Bad Ischl, Geschäftsstelle Pfandl
IBAN: AT922031400600970305    BIC: SKBIAT21XXX  




Mehr Informationen über die Mailingliste E-rundbrief