Following The Ecologist's revelation about Ecover's use of synthetic biology to make laundry detergent, the company has put its trials on hold, writes Jim Thomas. But to regain public trust, the company must re-engage honestly with its critics, and its customers.
… Synthetic biology - Ecover must come clean Jim Thomas | … revelation about Ecover's use of synthetic biology to make laundry detergent, the company … using an algae oil produced using synthetic biology (Syn Bio), sometimes called 'extreme …
Green soap-maker Ecover is the first company to openly admit that that it's using ingredients derived from 'synthetically modified organisms' - the next wave of GMOs - writes Jim Thomas. So why are they risking their ‘natural' brand for this experimental biotechnology?
… Ecover pioneers 'synthetic biology' in consumer products Jim Thomas | … in the world to reveal its use of synthetic biology in the manufacture of consumer … set of techniques called synthetic biology. Like many green-minded folks of my …
Ecover refutes allegations that it has been using 'synthetic biology' to make soap ingredients from algae. On the contrary, write Tom Domen & Dirk Develter, it's just old fashioned fermentation, and the company remains at the forefront of sustainability and responsible practice.
… allegations that it has been using 'synthetic biology' to make soap ingredients from algae. … produced by a process known as 'synthetic biology' that the process causes deforestation … Ecover as irresponsible. Synthetic biology The article states that Ecover …
A synthetic biology plant producing the anti-malarial drug artemisinin has just shut down as it's much cheaper to use wormwood grown by African farmers, writes Almuth Ernsting. The technology is even further from making affordable diesel, with a production cost of $20-50 per litre. No wonder investors are losing patience - and confidence - in loss-making synbio companies.
… Oil: $30-35 per barrel. Synthetic biology diesel: $3,180 to $7,949 per barrel. … Renewables Ecology synbio.jpg A synthetic biology plant producing the anti-malarial drug … - in loss-making synbio companies. Synthetic biology is being heavily promoted and funded …
Three in one: EFSA set to re-licence glyphosate based on secret industry studies; Monsanto moves against IARC verdict that glyphosate is a 'probable carcinogen'; and new science shows that FDA principle of GMO 'substantial equivalence' is bunk.
… Disrupt Molecular Systems Equilibria? Systems Biology May Provide Answers ', authors V A … Prabhakar Deonikar report on their 'systems biology' approach to the question, and find … targeted GM is not plant breeding." "Systems biology" , they propose, "which aims to …
When we speak of WMD, we usually think of weapons - nuclear, biological, or chemical - that are delivered in a moment, writes Tom Engelhardt. But what of climate change: a WMD on a long fuse, already lit and smoking ...
Climate change as a weapon of mass destruction Tom Engelhardt | 1st June 2014 News Climate Change WMD USA Corporations Fossil Fuels Law intense-smokestacks-cut.jpg When we speak of WMD, we usually …
The issues surrounding powerful new technologies from GMOs to nuclear power appear disparate, writes David King - but look harder and most are linked by common threads. Key among them are issues of profit, control and socialisation of cost ...
… Technology Society Corporations synthetic-biology.png The issues surrounding powerful … old technofixes: geoengineering , synthetic biology , nuclear power and the so-called … still at work in geoengineering and synthetic biology, as scientists attempt to manipulate …
An invisible cloud of man-made chemical toxins is sweeping the globe, writes Tony McMichael - disrupting ecosystems, damaging human health and shortening our lives. Our response so far has been utterly inadequate, as Julian Cribb reveals in his new book. But there are solutions - and it's up to us to get them implemented.
… exposures? We know that foetal and perinatal biology renders tiny humans vulnerable to … could well have long-lasting effects on human biology, health and longevity, and we owe it …
Brazil has suffered its biggest ever industrial disaster, write Ana Luisa Naghettini & Geraldo Lopes. Breached and overflowing dams have released a massive slug of toxic muds and tailings from iron mining into the country's fifth largest river system that provides drinking water for downstream cities, destroying ecosystems in rivers and vast areas of biologically fragile ocean.
… or so." The Augusto Ruschi station of Marine Biology, established in Aracruz, Santa Cruz, …
Are GMOs safe? Up to a point, writes Jonathan Latham - provided you're not eating them. That's certainly not proven to be safe, indeed the hazards are numerous: protein encoding viral DNA fragments, herbicide metabolites, biotoxins whose operation is not understood, poorly conducted experiments ... and those are just the ones we know about.
… feeling my way in the complex world of biology and of scientific research. Another …
Tyrone Hayes has fought a 15-year battle with Syngenta following his discovery that its herbicide Atrazine scrambles sex in frogs, writes F William Engdahl. Now he wants to know - is Atrazine the cause of the US's 2-fold reproductive cancer excess among Blacks and Hispanics?
… him. This story of a Berkeley University biology professor who conducted independent …
The US Environmental Protection Agency has just withdrawn its authorization for a toxic mix of two herbicides, glyphosate and 2,4-D, to be used on GM crops. The move came in response to a lawsuit claiming the initial registration was unlawful.
EPA bans toxic pesticide mix on GM crops The Ecologist | 26th November 2015 News Farming Toxics Regulation Corporations USA Law GMOs pesticide-spray-field-cut.jpg The US Environmental Protection …
Apparent 'victories' in the fight against toxic chemicals - like the EU's failure to re-approve glyphosate yesterday - are illusory, writes Jonathan Latham. The real problem is not one of specific 'bad actors', but the entire system that allows new, likely to be toxic compounds to pollute the environment in near-total ignorance of their impacts. It's time to take our campaigning to a whole new level.
… Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 141: 160. Braun JM, Kalkbrenner AE, …
Just as the chemical industry and its shills once proclaimed the safety of DDT, they are doing the same today with the herbicide glyphosate which has penetrated throughout the food chain, writes Evaggelos Vallianatos. And once again it is a toxic lie that threatens species, ecosystems and people. It's time to demand a new kind of agriculture, and a future free of all pesticides.
Ruthless power and deleterious politics: from DDT to Roundup Evaggelos Vallianatos | 18th July 2015 News Toxics Health Farming Corporations Regulation USA ddt-is-good-for-me.png Just as the chemical …
The global pesticide and bioscience giant Monsanto is a byword for evil for millions of campaigners and concerned citizens, writes JP Sottile. But that has never stopped it getting its way with the people that matter - politicians and regulators. And now the company is on the verge of biggest victory ever - winning clearance to spray biologically active RNA sequences on US crops.
… Officer Hugh Grant has a degree in molecular biology and an annual compensation package … Dr. Robert T. Fraley holds a Ph.D. in microbiology and biochemistry, received the …
As 300 protestors gather at the European Commission to protest at the resumption of TTIP trade talks between the EU and the USA, Oliver Tickell finds that the EU's newly released draft 'chapter' on food safety and animal welfare is a disastrous capitulation to corporate interests that will strip governments of their powers to regulate.
… cloning, genetic modification or synthetic biology. The purpose of the draft proposal, in … technologies like nanotechnology, synthetic biology, animal cloning and genetically … microbes being introduced through synthetic biology, unless plant pests are involved." And …
Among the risks of fracking are fragmentation of wildlife habitats, groundwater depletion, surface water pollution. The risks are compounded by a failure among companies and regulators to record or disclose essential information - from the chemicals used, to the time and place of toxic spills.
… Wildlife Biologist, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute at the Smithsonian …
With the International Monsanto Tribunal beginning this week (14-16 October) in The Hague, MICK GRANT reports from Vietnam with this special investigation for The Ecologist five decades after the company's lethal herbicide Agent Orange first devastated the country - and discovers the agribusiness giant is sneaking its way back into Vietnam with modern herbicides and 'Roundup-Ready' GMO crops.
First Agent Orange, now Roundup: what's Monsanto up to in Vietnam? Ecologist Special Investigation Mick Grant | 10th October 2016 News Vietname Health Pesticide Toxics Corporations War Farming agent …
Peru is to expand its Camisea gas project although it threatens uncontacted Amazon tribes with extinction, reports David Hill. The decision also ignores UN pleas to stop the operations.
Peru - gas expansion in Amazon 'indigenous reserve' David Hill The Guardian | 14th January 2014 News Amazon Peru Gas Fossil Fuels Indigenous Peoples yagua-peru.png Peru is to expand its Camisea gas …
We owe a deep debt of gratitude to Dr Frances Kelsey, write Helena Paul & Philip Bereano. In 1960, she defied her bosses at the FDA to prevent the licensing of thalidomide in the USA, saving thousands from being born with serious deformities. Her tough approach to minimising the risk from new drugs contains lessons we ignore at our peril.
Dr Frances Kelsey: thalidomide and the precautionary principle Helena Paul Philip Bereano | 25th August 2015 Comment Health Science Corporations USA Regulation thalidomide-children-cut.jpg We owe a …
Farmers on Palawan are being tricked into giving land away to palm oil companies with local government support, writes Rod Harbinson. Under the palm oil company 'leases' the farmers lose all rights to their land, never receive any money, and are saddled with 25 years of debt. Those who resist the land grabs are now in fear for their lives following the murder of a prominent campaigner.
Philippines islanders unite to resist 'land grab' palm oil companies Rod Harbinson | 7th January 2016 News Forests Philippines Land Grabs Corporations Farming Indigenous Peoples dsc2439-1-cut.jpg …
The forced retraction of a study that identified serious harm to rats fed on GMO maize and Monsanto's 'Roundup' reveals a deep and systemic corruption of science and regulation, writes Gilles-Eric Séralini. Urgent and far reaching reforms must now take place.
Biosafety and the 'Seralini affair' - scientific and regulatory reform are essential Gilles-Eric Séralini Robin Mesnage Nicolas Defarge Joël Spiroux de Vendômois | 25th June 2014 Comment GMOs Science …
A coalition of farmer and public interest groups are suing the US Environmental Protection Agency for unlawfully approving the use of Monsanto's highly toxic herbicide dicamba on its dicamba-resistant GMO soybeans and cotton, without consulting wildlife and fisheries agencies.
Lawsuit challenges Monsanto's 'back to the future' toxic herbicide Center for Food Safety | 25th January 2017 News GMOs Pesticides Corporations Regulation Law USA superweed-cut.jpg A coalition of …