In his 2022 book Regenesis and his subsequent campaigning with WePlanet, Guardian columnist George Monbiot has championed “precision fermentation” (the PR term for synthetic biology – synbio – or extreme genetic engineering) as the main future generator of the world’s food in a “Counter Agricultural Revolution” that, he says, will mark “the beginning of the end of most agriculture”. But the latest development in the patent wars over synthetic (or synbio) heme makes plain just how disastrous Monbiot’s farm-free future would be for concentration and control of global food production. Just one US company, Impossible Foods, holds more than half of all the plant-based-meat related patents in both the US and the EU, with a small number of other players holding the rest. And the kind of control that Impossible’s dominant position enables it to exercise has just been demonstrated by the fate of its rival – Motif FoodWorks. Motif – despite being one of the best-funded companies in the “precision fermentation” food sector – has announced that it is shutting down, just days after settling an “incredibly bitter” Intellectual Property (IP) lawsuit brought by Impossible. GMWatch
GMWatch has published our edit of a Deepl translation of an article in Spanish by the Argentine journalist Darío Aranda. The article, about Bioceres’ GM herbicide-tolerant wheat, HB4, was prompted by the USDA's deregulation of this GMO for cultivation in the US. While Darío’s article focuses on the high level of opposition to the GM wheat, including from scientists, as well as the lack of independent science attesting to its value, it’s possible that it may be defeated by good old-fashioned market forces. Bloomberg reported on 10 September that Bioceres’ shares “were on track for their biggest daily drop in two years as its ground-breaking genetically modified wheat seeds face setbacks”. The shares fell nearly 16% in New York trading, the most in one day since July 2022, “after it posted earnings that missed estimates for the quarter ending June 30 and as executives highlighted headwinds for its HB4 wheat strain”. GMWatch
Three articles published over recent weeks and months demolish the EU Commission's and New Zealand government's proposals for deregulating new GMOs made with techniques such as gene editing. They show why the proposals, which would remove safety checks and labelling from a new generation of GMOs, turn their back on scientific knowledge as well as democratic principles. For example, in an excellent and fully referenced article aptly titled "Let's cut the crap on gene technology", molecular biologist Prof Jack Heinemann, himself a genetic engineer who makes extensive use of gene editing, says society should be asking itself why it needs to trade the security of its GMO regulations for unsecured promises from the speculative visions of genetic engineers. Prof Heinemann takes apart four myths that the advocates for deregulation promote to justify their aims and accuses them of "gaslighting the public". GMWatch
Mexico’s closing argument in its dispute with the United States over its restrictions on GM corn and glyphosate residues in tortillas was published in English translation on 19 June 2024. The Mexican government argued persuasively that it has the right to take such precautionary measures under the United States-Canada-Mexico (USCMA) agreement, that the measures have had minimal impacts on US corn exporters and that its restrictions are indeed based on peer-reviewed science documenting the risks of consuming GM corn with glyphosate residues. These risks are particularly elevated for Mexicans, who consume more than 10 times the corn consumed in the US and do so in minimally processed preparations, such as tortillas. Mexico refuted the US rebuttal, which failed to acknowledge or rebut that evidence, relying instead on outdated studies that do not take Mexican consumption patterns into account and are often corrupted by conflicts of interest with biotechnology companies. Evidence submitted to the dispute panel included an expert report on the toxicology of GM maize by Prof Michael Antoniou. See also Timothy A. Wise's summary of the trade dispute and Nick Corbishley's article focusing on the legal case (separate from the trade dispute) that the US brought against Mexico, but subsequently abandoned. IATP, CBAN, IPS News, and Naked Capitalism
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