August 2022
There's a new concentration of power looming in the food system: Big Protein.
The bulk of our protein needs comes from animals, but apparently "animals have just been the technology we have used up until now to produce meat ... What consumers value about meat has nothing to do with how it's made. They just live with the fact that it's made from animals." (Impossible Foods CEO).
Now, it seems, we need to learn to live with the fact that the technology we use to produce 'meat' is shifting from the fields to the factories. That is, to mega-facilities which will extract and purify protein from plants such as soya, wheat, and peas [1], or which will brew animal muscle cells in giant vats [2]; or which will grow bacteria in huge bio-fermenters [3]. The missing meat-like qualities, such as taste, micro-nutrients, texture, fat and blood will be produced in supporting factories. Indeed, "A radically reshaped future is rushing towards us" (Fassler).
If all this sounds like a niche market for wealthy, middle-class animal-lovers who don't mind how processed their food is so long as it doesn't make them feel guilty, be assured that there are big players who expect Big Protein to be a big game.
Showing posts with label patents. Show all posts
Showing posts with label patents. Show all posts
The patent mania of big protein
Gene-edited crops: controlling, unjustifiable and unnecessary
July 2022
Governments are being persuasively lobbied by the biotech industry to rubber-stamp gene-edited crops with claims that they are democratising, sustainable and necessary.
Democratising?
Governments are being persuasively lobbied by the biotech industry to rubber-stamp gene-edited crops with claims that they are democratising, sustainable and necessary.
Democratising?
A question of what's natural
December 2021
GM proponents have been working hard to sow confusion about just how un-natural their intrusions into the genome and its connected molecular machinery actually are [see GENE-EDITED FARMING: RESCUE OR LAST STRAW? - December 2021].
Did you know that passing GM off as 'natural' has been a standard tactic used by jittery biotechnologists to distract a wary public since the dawn of GM?
Did you know that something which is patented can't, by legal definition, be described as 'natural'?
For a very informative discussion by a varied and knowledgeable panel, check out
GM proponents have been working hard to sow confusion about just how un-natural their intrusions into the genome and its connected molecular machinery actually are [see GENE-EDITED FARMING: RESCUE OR LAST STRAW? - December 2021].
Did you know that passing GM off as 'natural' has been a standard tactic used by jittery biotechnologists to distract a wary public since the dawn of GM?
Did you know that something which is patented can't, by legal definition, be described as 'natural'?
For a very informative discussion by a varied and knowledgeable panel, check out
GM bacteriocins
February 2020
It looks like the next generation of GM wonder-plants is under development in Scotland.
About 5% of world crops, some $50 billion worth, are lost due to bacterial disease each year. One of the most common such infections is Pseudomonas syringae which attacks a wide variety of important crops, including tomato, kiwi, peppers, olive, soyabeans and fruit trees. Once the bacteria have gained a foothold in one part of a uniform commercial crop, they spread rapidly through the whole.
Breeding crops for resistance to bacterial disease has had only limited success. Chemical crop protectants are increasingly unpopular with consumers. Treating crops with conventional antibiotics is frowned upon as it fuels antibiotic resistance in human pathogens and compromises our ability to treat diseases.
Genetic engineers have hit on the idea of creating crops which generate 'bacteriocins'.
It looks like the next generation of GM wonder-plants is under development in Scotland.
About 5% of world crops, some $50 billion worth, are lost due to bacterial disease each year. One of the most common such infections is Pseudomonas syringae which attacks a wide variety of important crops, including tomato, kiwi, peppers, olive, soyabeans and fruit trees. Once the bacteria have gained a foothold in one part of a uniform commercial crop, they spread rapidly through the whole.
Breeding crops for resistance to bacterial disease has had only limited success. Chemical crop protectants are increasingly unpopular with consumers. Treating crops with conventional antibiotics is frowned upon as it fuels antibiotic resistance in human pathogens and compromises our ability to treat diseases.
Genetic engineers have hit on the idea of creating crops which generate 'bacteriocins'.
A tale of two villages in India
September 2019
Is it just a romantic, anti-science notion to ditch agrichemicals,
GMOs, monocultures and patents? Or, is
it a necessity?
This is the story of how small-holders become trapped by
addiction to pesticides, and how two villages in India got clean.
Action on new GMOs
August 2019
Pro-GM lobbyists continue to put
pressure on EU regulators to abandon their precautionary laws
requiring approval, safety checks, traceability and labelling of all
GM crops, foods and livestock.
In particular, the biotech lobby is
striving to evade any regulation of 'new' GMOs produced with 'gene
editing' techniques. With recent EU elections and Brexit, this
is the perfect time for them to push for light-touch,
corporate-friendly GM laws.
Bullet-proof bees
May 2019
People need bees to produce over 80% of their food. Bees need flowers to produce 100% of their food. The people, the bees and the flowering plants all have to be in the right place at the right time, or none will survive.
Paradoxically, modern man seems to have gone out of his way to make life impossible for the insects he depends on.
People need bees to produce over 80% of their food. Bees need flowers to produce 100% of their food. The people, the bees and the flowering plants all have to be in the right place at the right time, or none will survive.
Paradoxically, modern man seems to have gone out of his way to make life impossible for the insects he depends on.
Roundup on trial
May 2019
Monsanto has spent four decades manipulating the science, the regulators, the media, and patent law in pursuit of profit from its blockbuster glyphosate-based herbicide, Roundup [1]. When the Roundup-causes-cancer scare reared up, Monsanto seemed confident it could manipulate that too. Bayer, a company well used to handling litigation over harmful products [3], also seemed confident it could ride out the storm, and proceeded with its acquisition of Monsanto despite the impending law suits.
It's interesting to see what's been unfolding in the American courts, where two glyphosate-based cancer cases have so far been judged (although the appeals will no doubt stretch out for some time to come).
Monsanto has spent four decades manipulating the science, the regulators, the media, and patent law in pursuit of profit from its blockbuster glyphosate-based herbicide, Roundup [1]. When the Roundup-causes-cancer scare reared up, Monsanto seemed confident it could manipulate that too. Bayer, a company well used to handling litigation over harmful products [3], also seemed confident it could ride out the storm, and proceeded with its acquisition of Monsanto despite the impending law suits.
It's interesting to see what's been unfolding in the American courts, where two glyphosate-based cancer cases have so far been judged (although the appeals will no doubt stretch out for some time to come).
Let's think omnigenics
April 2019
You don't have to look too far to realise that the one, consistent, feature of all the products of GM technology is that they have failed to deliver on their promises.
In 1994, we were informed of an imminent series of world-changing GM crops destined to emerge in five-year leaps. Monsanto Vice President, Robert Fraley, listed 60 plant species which had already been genetically transformed. The first wave of GM crops would be pest-free, weed-free, and virus-proof by 2000. After this we would have GM improved foods on our tables by 2005, followed by pharmaceuticals from the fields by 2010, and finally GM-grown speciality chemicals.
The only limit to what was possible was the imagination of the genetic engineers, but the basis for this five-year leaping GM programme was never questioned, nor explained.
Now, over two decades later, how many of these leaps have actually been leapt?
You don't have to look too far to realise that the one, consistent, feature of all the products of GM technology is that they have failed to deliver on their promises.
In 1994, we were informed of an imminent series of world-changing GM crops destined to emerge in five-year leaps. Monsanto Vice President, Robert Fraley, listed 60 plant species which had already been genetically transformed. The first wave of GM crops would be pest-free, weed-free, and virus-proof by 2000. After this we would have GM improved foods on our tables by 2005, followed by pharmaceuticals from the fields by 2010, and finally GM-grown speciality chemicals.
The only limit to what was possible was the imagination of the genetic engineers, but the basis for this five-year leaping GM programme was never questioned, nor explained.
Now, over two decades later, how many of these leaps have actually been leapt?
The rosy face of gene drive organisms (GDOs)
February 2019
Much attention has been focused on gene drives to eliminate mosquitoes plus all the horrible diseases they carry [1], and to eliminate invasive small mammals plus all the havoc they wreak in foreign ecosystems [2]. The take-home message is that gene drives can be harnessed for the common good as invaluable tools in medicine and conservation.
Odd really, because the patents filed for gene drives are largely for agricultural applications.
Odd really, because the patents filed for gene drives are largely for agricultural applications.
Outside the media radar lie plans to eliminate insect pests and weeds, plans to speed-breed GM seeds and higher-yielding GM livestock, and even plans to convert whole bee colonies to a GM form which can be directed by light beams to the required crop needing pollinated, and plans to create GM locusts which don't swarm.
Patent-unfriendly broccoli
January 2019
After a lot of moaning by food rights activists, the European Patent Office (EPA) reconsidered its ideas on the patenting of life, and in 2017 set new rules.
Following on from this (and a whole lot more moaning by food rights activists) the EPA revoked a patent it had granted five years previously on a new strain of broccoli.
After a lot of moaning by food rights activists, the European Patent Office (EPA) reconsidered its ideas on the patenting of life, and in 2017 set new rules.
Following on from this (and a whole lot more moaning by food rights activists) the EPA revoked a patent it had granted five years previously on a new strain of broccoli.
GM veggie oil for fish
November 2018
The earliest suggestions that certain 'fatty acids' (the building block of oils) might be, like vitamins, vital to health in small quantities were ridiculed by the scientific establishment: oils were viewed as simply a concentrated source of energy for the body and devoid of any role in health promotion.
The earliest suggestions that certain 'fatty acids' (the building block of oils) might be, like vitamins, vital to health in small quantities were ridiculed by the scientific establishment: oils were viewed as simply a concentrated source of energy for the body and devoid of any role in health promotion.
Science has moved a long way since then: fatty acids have
been implicated in the healthy function and development of cells and tissues at
every stage of life. Two fatty acids in
particular, 'EPA' and 'DHA' omega-3s*, are the subject of an "impressive
documentation ... related to health benefits” with special reference to the
heart and cardiovascular system. Despite
this, "the cellular and molecular mechanisms for (EPA and DHA) action are
still insufficiently understood" (Gil).
Court rules: gene editing is genetic modification
September 2018
Concerns that the European Commission was getting itself in such a twist just trying to define new mutagenesis techniques that it would never get its head round how to regulate them [1] seem to have been straightened out by the European Court of Justice.
Concerns that the European Commission was getting itself in such a twist just trying to define new mutagenesis techniques that it would never get its head round how to regulate them [1] seem to have been straightened out by the European Court of Justice.
Missed molecular scars
January 2018
In October last year, the Wall Street Journal's Global Food Forum provided a platform for the biotech industry to promote its latest GM escapade. This is, of course, 'gene editing' which can be done using a variety of different techniques [1] all of which are fancy versions of GM.
Executives are busy strategising on how to 'sell' edited-GMOs to a suspicious and sceptical public.
In October last year, the Wall Street Journal's Global Food Forum provided a platform for the biotech industry to promote its latest GM escapade. This is, of course, 'gene editing' which can be done using a variety of different techniques [1] all of which are fancy versions of GM.
Executives are busy strategising on how to 'sell' edited-GMOs to a suspicious and sceptical public.
Enlist duo
June 2016
The biotech industry's answer to the huge weed-problem it
has inflicted on farms after years of spraying glyphosate weedkiller on biotech
seeds, is (predictably) more of the same.
Indeed, packages of dual herbicide formulations plus dual
herbicide-tolerant GM seeds are the business now.
Glyphosate weed-killer is still in there, but Dow Chemical
has added in '2,4-D' to create ‘Enlist Duo' formulation for spraying its latest
generation of GM corn and soya. '2,4-D'
is another decades-old herbicide, and was one of the two major components of
the infamous Agent Orange defoliant used to clear the jungle and destroy crops
in Vietnam.
Patents on every bite
November 2015
The GM mindset which has successfully manipulated
common-sense to allow living organisms to be 'invented' has been expanded to
allow something even more unholy.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
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| Photo Creative Commons |
Swiss biotech giant, Syngenta, has been granted a patent on
some novel tomatoes, including the plants themselves, their seeds and their
fruit.
The novelty value of these tomatoes is their particularly
high levels of 'flavonols' which are micronutrients recognised as being
healthful for the heart besides having anti-oxidant, anti-cancer, anti-viral,
anti-allergic, and anti-inflammatory
properties.
Despite the patent, the tomatoes are not GM, but have been
'invented' by crossing flavonol-rich wild tomatoes with domestic
varieties. Extensive (expensive) genetic
science was, of course, employed to find the appropriate wild strains and to
guide the breeding process, but why the fancy tomatoes should command more than
old-fashioned breeders' rights isn't clear.
Moreover, European patent law prohibits patents on plant
varieties and on methods of classical breeding.
Watchdog organisation, No Patent on Seeds, has pointed out
that the European Patent Office (EPO) exists to promote innovation in business,
and is controlled only by a single Administrative Council. EPO revenue is increased by granting patents.
There seems to be little or no incentive to refuse a patent.
For the European public, this patent on conventional
tomatoes opens the door to ownership of all our food by big
corporations: all they need to do is find a gene in a wild relative to
'enhance' your food with.
Back in 2012, the European Parliament demanded the EPO stop
granting such patents on conventionally-bred plants. If the Parliament is
powerless, we need networking amongst governments to put a stop any more such
patents.
Safeguard your future food: demand a STOP to
patents on life.
SOURCES
- Yao LH, et al., 2004, Flavonoids in food and their health benefits, Plant Foods and Human Nutrition 59(3)
- Sally Robertson, What are Flavonoids? www.news-medical.net
- New patent granted on tomatoes derived from classical breeding, No Patents on Seeds, 25.08.15
Ombudsman rules universities biased
September 2015
NGOs, MEPs, and journalists who do their homework have been raising concerns for some years that 'independent' advisers to government are failing to use independent sources to inform themselves.
For example, when Germany reviewed glyphosate herbicide for re-authorisation in the EU, it based its recommendation on a report prepared by the 'Glyphosate Task Force'; this is an organisation set up by agrichemical companies specifically to promote the re-registration of glyphosate, a chemical central to their GM crops and profits.
In the latter case there was a blatant conflict of interest, but it isn't always so obvious.
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| Photo Creative Commons |
For example, when Germany reviewed glyphosate herbicide for re-authorisation in the EU, it based its recommendation on a report prepared by the 'Glyphosate Task Force'; this is an organisation set up by agrichemical companies specifically to promote the re-registration of glyphosate, a chemical central to their GM crops and profits.
In the latter case there was a blatant conflict of interest, but it isn't always so obvious.
An impressively vulnerable crop
July 2015
The United States has ambitions for maize.
It expects, not only to maintain its global command of the supply of maize, but that the US share of the world trade in this commodity will grow to a massive 55%.
America also plans to continue to make maize indispensable to the modern life-style.
To understand the significance of this, consider that maize is now used extensively in personal care products such as deodorants, in pharmaceuticals such as aspirin and antibiotics, in adhesives, textiles and dyes, in chemicals such as solvents and acids, in agrichemicals, cardboard, fibreglass and the humble plastic carrier bag. All this is over and above its use as food and food additives (that means 25% of products in US grocery stores), as animal feed, and the 40% of the US maize crop mandated to ethanolic fuel production.
Despite such ambitions, the US agricultural system does not produce exceptional yields [1], nor is it conservative of environmental impact, nor apparently, is it sustainable. In fact, US maize in the field is "impressively vulnerable" to epidemic disease.
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| Maize. Photo Creative Commons |
It expects, not only to maintain its global command of the supply of maize, but that the US share of the world trade in this commodity will grow to a massive 55%.
America also plans to continue to make maize indispensable to the modern life-style.
To understand the significance of this, consider that maize is now used extensively in personal care products such as deodorants, in pharmaceuticals such as aspirin and antibiotics, in adhesives, textiles and dyes, in chemicals such as solvents and acids, in agrichemicals, cardboard, fibreglass and the humble plastic carrier bag. All this is over and above its use as food and food additives (that means 25% of products in US grocery stores), as animal feed, and the 40% of the US maize crop mandated to ethanolic fuel production.
Despite such ambitions, the US agricultural system does not produce exceptional yields [1], nor is it conservative of environmental impact, nor apparently, is it sustainable. In fact, US maize in the field is "impressively vulnerable" to epidemic disease.
Enslaved seeds
October 2014
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| Different varieties of rice seed. CC photo by IRRI photos on Flickr |
There is a huge natural genetic diversity in all seeds, which has evolved over millions of years.Only this complex whole has the ability and the reserves to change in harmony with its ever-changing environment.
This is a resource we can't afford to waste, destroy, or compromise.
Without it, we will starve.
Realising our dependence on seed
quality, and the profits that can attach to dependency,
business has been grabbing control of seeds: wild seeds, commercial
seeds, national and global seed markets, and the farmers who use
them.
Laws have long been in place in the
developed world to ensure that large-scale supplies of seed are of
good quality.
However, this system hasn't worked to
maintain diversity or farmer choice: it has promoted consolidation of
the seed market, dependence on agri-chemicals, and high seed prices.
Supertoxic remedies for superweeds
September 2014
American farmers have a problem: their crops are drowning in a sea of weeds and their machines are choking to death.
.jpg "Common pigweed") |
| Common pigweed. CC photo from Wiki Commons |
In desperation, Texas cotton growers recently petitioned the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) to allow 'emergency' use of propazine, a weed-killer widely banned because it causes birth defects, is an endocrine disruptor, a possible carcinogen, ends up in waterways and takes years to breakdown. Fortunately for the public and the environment, the petition was denied. But how did we come to such a pass?
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