| Apologies that we've been a little quiet of late – this is due to our editor having serious computer technical problems, which are now gradually being resolved. IARPA, Ginkgo Bioworks and Draper announce new technologies to detect engineered DNA Remember how the biotech industry and some governments have claimed that gene-edited foods and crops can't be regulated as GMOs because it's impossible to detect that they are GMOs? Well, now in the context of biodefence, industry and the US government are telling us that in most cases, detection and identification of GMOs as GMOs – even previously "unknown" ones – is possible. The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), the research and development arm of the US Intelligence community, Ginkgo Bioworks, the leading horizontal platform for cell programming and Draper, a nonprofit engineering innovation firm, have announced the completion of IARPA's Finding Engineering-Linked Indicators (FELIX) programme. The programme was created to augment and improve current biodetection and biosurveillance capabilities. Specifically, Ginkgo has developed a suite of new computational tools and Draper has developed a new experimental platform to help detect and identify when samples include genetically engineered organisms. The results from the programme were presented at a press conference on October 17, 2022 on YouTube. If you missed seeing it live, you can catch up at this link. The technologies work on any type of organism, from viruses and bacteria to yeast, fungi, plants, and animals. The researchers are keen to see them used by both private and public sector bodies, with the latter including NGOs engaged in biosurveillance. They also predict that GMO developers will be interested in using the technologies to protect their patents, as individuals or organisations that "steal" their intellectual property will be more easily detected. [GMWatch will publish our take on the IARPA, Ginkgo Bioworks and Draper technologies very soon.] GMWatch comment on press release by Gingko Bioworks Bill Gates’ farmland: a quarter-million acre missed opportunity Few things are worse for a farmer than losing their land – except, perhaps, losing it to a corporate land baron. Bill Gates, one of the world’s richest men, is now the largest private farmland owner in the US. And farmers are paying attention. When it was revealed that Gates owns 242,000 acres of farmland across 19 states, it caught the ear of regenerative farmer Will Harris of White Oak Pastures. “I hate to see someone, who has no idea what to do with [the land], be put in a position to control it,” Harris wrote earlier this month. “How well do you think I would do running a tech company or financial institution? He lacks the understanding to steward it properly.” Thousands of farmers have embraced regenerative practices as a way to tackle climate threats – a connection Gates has not yet made. Will Harris wants Bill Gates to visit his farm in order to get informed. Kiss the Ground Europe must slash pesticide use to protect people's and planet's health, warns new "Pesticide Atlas" While tension is rising amongst EU Member States on new pesticide reduction targets, the new "Pesticide Atlas" released by the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, Friends of the Earth Europe and PAN Europe shows that the amount of pesticides used worldwide has increased by 80 percent since 1990, causing harm to the health of farmers, consumers and nature alike. Among other findings, the "Pesticide Atlas" exposes that the global pesticide market has almost doubled in the last 20 years. By 2023, the total value of all pesticides used is expected to reach nearly 130.7 billion US dollars. The European Union is one of the world’s biggest markets for pesticides, with almost a quarter of all pesticides being sold in the EU. Friends of the Earth Europe Campaigners warn European Commission not to abandon hazardous chemical exports commitments made in EU Green Deal Responding to the European Commission’s 2023 work programme, which was published today and makes no mention of the promised restriction on the trade of hazardous chemicals that are banned or severely restricted in the EU, SumOfUs campaigner Eoin Dubsky said: “The European Commission promised as part of the EU Green Deal in 2020 to ensure that hazardous chemicals banned in the EU are not produced for export. Two years later, and they haven’t even added it to their work plan. What exactly are they waiting for? Europe’s law on hazardous chemicals needs to be fixed, or corporations will carry on trading whatever chemicals they want to, and the EU will continue poisoning the planet for profits.” Hazardous chemicals, banned in Europe in order to protect human health and the environment, are currently produced and exported by EU countries to third countries where protections are generally weaker. SumOfUs Boston University researchers’ testing of lab-made version of COVID virus draws government scrutiny Research at Boston University that involved testing a lab-made hybrid version of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is garnering heated headlines alleging the scientists involved could have unleashed a new pathogen. There is no evidence the work, performed under biosecurity level 3 precautions in BU’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories, was conducted improperly or unsafely. In fact, it was approved by an internal biosafety review committee and Boston’s Public Health Commission, the university said. But it has become apparent that the research team did not clear the work with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which was one of the funders of the project. The agency indicated it is going to be looking for some answers as to why it first learned of the work through media reports. STAT News We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible by readers’ donations. Please support our work with a one-off or regular donation. Thank you! __________________________________________________________ Website: http://www.gmwatch.org
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