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Tue Jun 10 12:23:09 EDT 2014

Hello all,
thought that many would be interested in and concerned by the news below
about one of the early pioneers of seemingly natural cleaning products.

in good food,
Abra

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: ETC Group <ETC_Group at mail.vresp.com>
Date: Wed, Jun 4, 2014 at 1:29 PM
Subject: Duck and Ecover: SynBio is Not Natural
To: abra at peelingtheonion.ca

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Sign the petition on Synthetic Biology: www.syntheticisnotnatural.com
<http://cts.vresp.com/c/?ETCGroup/aceb7b1381/be860ce140/09560a196e>

Two months ago, ETC Group discovered that leading “green” cleaning products
company Ecover – which owns the Method brand in USA – had decided to use an
oil from algae that was genetically engineered using synthetic biology
(SynBio). This makes Ecover the first consumer product company in the world
to publicly admit to using ingredients derived from organisms created using
SynBio techniques. Although Ecover is the first company to admit doing so,
there may be hundreds of undisclosed products on the market using these new
forms of extreme genetic engineering.

This past weekend the New York Times published an article exposing Ecover’s
use of SynBio ingredients. You can see that article here.
<http://cts.vresp.com/c/?ETCGroup/aceb7b1381/be860ce140/903286303e> ETC
Group also joined with 22 other organisations to send an open letter to
Ecover and Method
<http://cts.vresp.com/c/?ETCGroup/aceb7b1381/be860ce140/53c9c4e380>, asking
them to reverse their decision to use Synthetic Biology ingredients.

Today ETC Group is asking you to join us in asking Ecover and Method to
change their mind on SynBio. We have set up a petition at
www.syntheticisnotnatural.com
<http://cts.vresp.com/c/?ETCGroup/aceb7b1381/be860ce140/7573b756cd>.

*Please take a moment to sign this petition
<http://cts.vresp.com/c/?ETCGroup/aceb7b1381/be860ce140/090d32e9f9>, share
it on social media, and encourage friends and colleagues to do likewise.*

There is nothing “natural”, “sustainable” or responsible about
commercialising SynBio in household products. They claim its a ‘solution’
to Palm Oil expansion and we strongly disagree
<http://cts.vresp.com/c/?ETCGroup/aceb7b1381/be860ce140/25e9590c00>.

You can also read our Frequently Asked Questions
<http://cts.vresp.com/c/?ETCGroup/aceb7b1381/be860ce140/529b5bca28>about
Ecover and SynBio.

We are asking Ecover to use agro-ecologically produced coconut oil instead.
Below is the news release. The open letter (now signed by 23 groups) can be
viewed here.
<http://cts.vresp.com/c/?ETCGroup/aceb7b1381/be860ce140/c4eba3a9c5>

-----
17 Groups call on Ecover and Method to drop extreme genetic engineering
plans

Consumer, environmental, farming groups say synthetic biology is not
natural or sustainable

San Francisco, Calif.– In an open letter
<http://cts.vresp.com/c/?ETCGroup/aceb7b1381/be860ce140/0506a83585>
released today 17 national and international consumer, environmental,
women’s health and farming groups called on leading “natural” cleaning and
personal care products manufacturer Ecover and its U.S.-based subsidiary,
Method Products Inc., to cancel plans to use oils and other ingredients
derived from synthetic biology, a new and unregulated set of genetic
engineering techniques. Earlier this month, Ecover announced it would
switch to using oils produced by synthetic biology company Solazyme Inc.
(SZYM) via synthetically engineered algae which feed on sugar.

The organizations, including Friends of the Earth, Center for Food Safety,
Consumers Union, Women’s Voices for the Earth, Clean Production Action,
Organic Consumers Association, and ETC Group, as well as watchdog and
farmer groups in Brazil concerned about the environmental impacts of
increased demand for Brazilian sugarcane, say the use of synthetic biology
ingredients contradicts Ecover and Method’s branding as “sustainable” and
“ecologically sound.”

“Synthetic biology is a new area of extreme genetic engineering and there
are no regulations yet in place to deal with the implications of these new
synthetic organisms. Our ability to even assess the risks is lagging way
behind,” said Jim Thomas of ETC Group. “A wider switch to synthetic biology
ingredients is likely to cause serious harm to biodiversity and farmers,
and it is disappointing that Ecover and Method are leading the charge.”

Synthetic biology is the practice of artificially constructing genetic
material such as DNA in order to create new forms of life or attempt to
‘reprogram’ existing organisms, such as yeast and algae. Synthetic biology
companies claim that they can now generate millions of new, untested
organisms per day. If a fraction of these synthetic organisms were
released, the potential effects on health, the environment and farmer’s
livelihoods are wide-ranging – from relatively benign to ecological and
economic disruption.

The New York Times reported
<http://cts.vresp.com/c/?ETCGroup/aceb7b1381/be860ce140/1695f8486c> on
Friday that synthetic biology ingredients are rapidly entering consumer
products and food in absence of adequate health and environmental safety
assessment, regulations or labeling.

“While other types of pollution can be cleaned up and do not breed, synbio
organisms are designed to reproduce and, once released into the
environment, they will be impossible to recall,” said Dana Perls of Friends
of the Earth-U.S. “Consumers will likely reject these new, risky, unlabeled
and virtually unregulated ‘GMOs 2.0.’ and we know that truly green,
sustainable companies will as well.”

Ecover’s announcement did not disclose that the algal oil it plans to use
in its products would be a product of synthetic biology or genetic
modification.

“We are surprised that Ecover thinks its green-minded customers would want
to be associated with an untested and unregulated technology,” says Michael
Hansen, Senior Scientist at Consumers Union, the policy arm of Consumer
Reports. “We are also disappointed that Ecover and Method have been less
than straightforward about their decision. Products derived from
Synthetically Modified Organisms (SMOs) should not be marketed as
‘natural,’ or ‘ecological’.”

Ecover claims synthetic biology algal oil will be a more sustainable
replacement for palm oil in some products. While palm oil is a leading
cause of deforestation, today’s open letter explains that synthetic biology
oils are actually not a sustainable alternative. Solazyme raises its algae
on sugarcane. Increased demand for sugar could result in destruction of
biodiversity hotspots, including Brazil’s fragile and biodiverse cerrado
and tropical forests in Latin America, Africa and South East Asia, for more
sugar cane production.

Ecover representatives have confirmed that the company has the option of
switching to coconut oil, a feedstock that is often more sustainably
produced by small farmers. The ingredient in question, lauric acid, is
routinely sourced from coconut oil.

“We welcome Ecover’s concern about environmentally destructive palm oil,
but switching to Brazilian sugarcane and synthetic biology ingredients is
not an improvement,” said Jeff Conant, a palm oil campaigner with Friends
of the Earth. “Feeding an environmentally destructive material like
sugarcane to synthetic organisms does not make it more environmentally
friendly; it makes it less so.”

“As a socially and ecologically responsible alternative to palm kernel oil,
which is often from palms grown on clear cut forest land, coconut oil, when
obtained from well-managed established plantations, is far better than any
solution based on synthetic biology,” explained Jaydee Hanson of Center for
Food Safety. "That solution could support tropical farmers and really would
be 'natural' rather than misleading consumers."

The group’s letter calls for Ecover to: pledge not to use ingredients
derived from synthetic organisms; acknowledge that such ingredients cannot
be considered ‘natural,’ ‘green,’ ‘ecologically sound’ or ‘sustainable’;
and join in calling for a moratorium on the commercial use and
environmental release of organisms produced via synthetic biology.

“The commercial use of synthetic biology organisms is completely new,
unregulated and the effects are unknown,” said Alexis Baden-Mayer of the
Organic Consumers Association. “We need companies, individuals and
governments to cooperate to put a moratorium on the release of these new
organisms until we better understand the consequences of these decisions.”

###

The open letter sent to Ecover, along with a complete list of signatories,
can be found here
<http://cts.vresp.com/c/?ETCGroup/aceb7b1381/be860ce140/1a2177a881>.

For more information on synthetic biology visit:

http://www.etcgroup.org
<http://cts.vresp.com/c/?ETCGroup/aceb7b1381/be860ce140/c242d5d636>

http://www.synbiowatch.org
<http://cts.vresp.com/c/?ETCGroup/aceb7b1381/be860ce140/f98c83a105>

http://www.nosynbio.org
<http://cts.vresp.com/c/?ETCGroup/aceb7b1381/be860ce140/fb376d16d9>

Petition to Ecover and Method: http://www.syntheticisnotnatural.org
<http://cts.vresp.com/c/?ETCGroup/aceb7b1381/be860ce140/890bd727f5>

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-- 
Abra Brynne
PO Box 684, Nelson, BC V1L 5R4
phone: 250.352.5342
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