Competition Launch to 'Brand' Synthetic Biology Vanilla

ETC Group and Friends of the Earth are launching a public design and branding competition to shine a spotlight on synthetic biology (extreme genetic engineering) in our food. Use your creativity to help us expose the very un-natural new ingredient coming to a confection near you, and what it means for vanilla farmers.

More information and entry form at http://www.etcgroup.org/vanilla-competition

As early as next year, a new ingredient straight out of a petri dish could enter our favorite foods - from ice cream to apple pie. It's a 'vanilla-like' flavour (http://www.etcgroup.org/content/case-study-vanilla) produced via a new extreme genetic engineering technology called 'synthetic biology (http://www.etcgroup.org/issues/synthetic-biology).' No government anywhere in the world has taken steps to assess or regulate this technology, yet its imminent arrival on the commercial market may threaten the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of tropical vanilla farmers and their families in countries such as Madagascar and Mexico.

This new vanilla flavor exists nowhere in nature, but the companies behind it are confident it deserves a 'natural flavor' label. ETC Group (http://www.etcgroup.org/) and Friends...