194 countries regulate scientific insanity by clamping down on synthetic biology

Thursday, February 04, 2016 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
Tags: synthetic biology, United Nations, GMOs

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(NaturalNews) A much more sinister and extreme form of genetic engineering has taken the world by storm, and all 193 member countries of the United Nations, as well as one other, have agreed that this rapidly expanding technology needs to be properly regulated.

It is known as synthetic biology, and it involves engineering artificial organisms at the DNA level. Nobody knows what long-term effects these organisms will have on humans or the environment, but products made using SynBio are already showing up in consumer products and even in food.

A unanimous decision by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) urges member countries to adopt regulatory standards in consideration of SynBio's many unknowns. The permanent consequences of the technology appear to be many, and yet little is known about what they entail.

"Synthetic biology has been like the wild west: a risky technology frontier with little oversight or regulation," said Jim Thomas from the ETC Group. "At last the UN is laying down the law."

SynBio already being used in food, cosmetics, soaps and other products

On the one hand, purveyors of real food are barred from even mentioning the possible health benefits of their products without the government's position. But when it comes to genetically modified organisms (GMOs), these man-made monstrosities can be brought into the commercial mainstream without so much as a lick of proper safety testing or even basic labeling.

According to Friends of the Earth (FoE), SynBio technology is already showing up in all sorts of consumer applications even though it has never been formally acknowledged or properly tested. And if nothing changes, SynBio lifeforms could eventually become dominant on the planet, overwhelming and supplanting all the natural ones.

"The multibillion-dollar SynBio industry has been slipping untested ingredients into food, cosmetics and soaps; they are even preparing to release synthetically modified organisms into the environment," said Dana Perls from FoE-US.

"This decision is a clear signal that synthetic biology urgently needs to be assessed and regulated."

GMO-dominated countries aggressively blocked moratorium on SynBio

If SynBio is this much of a threat, then why didn't the UN member nations impose a moratorium or ban them completely? Many of them tried to do just this but were overwhelmed by pro-GMO nations like Canada, the U.S. and the UK, which aggressively manipulated the proceedings to keep SynBio in the development pipeline.

Many of the countries opposed to SynBio are located in Africa, Asia and Latin America. According to ETC Group, the most strongly outspoken ones include Malaysia, Bolivia, the Philippines, Ethiopia and Egypt, which fought to impose a moratorium but ultimately failed.

"It was good to see delegates of the South stand up for the interests of their farmers, peasants and biodiversity here in Pyeongchang," added Neth Dano, Asia Director of ETC Group, about the meeting that took place in South Korea.

"This is not the moratorium many of us wanted, but it's a good step in the right direction."

Is SynBio about further depopulating the planet?

At a recent conference that took place at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent Carmine Nigro spoke his mind about SynBio technology. She warned that it represents a threat not only to the planet but also to humanity, which will likely suffer exceedingly as a result of its deployment.

"These technologies [synthetic biology] do not just pose a risk to individual buildings or cities, but if cleverly deployed, can reduce our population by significant percentages," he said.

Sources for this article include:

http://hosted.verticalresponse.com

http://www.oldthinkernews.com

http://www.nytimes.com

http://science.naturalnews.com