Fwd: [DIYbio] Kickstarter bans project creators from giving away genetically-modified organisms | The Verge
3 views
Skip to first unread message
Vladimir Teplouhov
Aug 5, 2013, 8:24:06 AM8/5/13
to open-equipment
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Thomas Landrain <thomas....@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 3 Aug 2013 23:27:27 +0200
Subject: [DIYbio] Kickstarter bans project creators from giving away
genetically-modified organisms | The Verge
To: DIYBIO <diy...@googlegroups.com>, Biohacklab <bioha...@lists.tmplab.org>
This backfiring is just the beginning of what the glowing plant
project has triggered, in my sense, by a lack of responsibility. Let's
be humble and take this as a lesson for the future.
T
Kickstarter is clamping down on genetically-modified organisms
following the success of a project to genetically engineer glowing
plants for use as additional lighting in people's homes. Earlier this
week and without explanation, the crowdfunding website quietly altered
its guidelines for project creators, introducing a new term that bans
creators from giving away genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) as
rewards to their online backers. "Projects cannot offer genetically
modified organisms as a reward," the new language states. The
prohibition is effective July 31st, meaning that the popular
glow-in-the-dark plant project is safe, but that any future projects
like it can't offer GMOs to their backers.
"PROJECTS CANNOT OFFER GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS AS A REWARD."
When asked about the change by The Verge, the company provided only
the following canned statement: "we aim to be as open as possible
while protecting the health and creative spirit of Kickstarter for the
long term." Yet the move comes just days after a project called
"Glowing Plants"successfully raised nearly half-a-million dollars.
The project was launched by a team of trained synthetic biologists,
who want to insert bioluminescence genes from bacteria and fireflies
into several types of plans — arabidopsis and roses— to make them glow
in the dark. Project backers who pledged $40 or more were promised
packets of seeds of the final glowing plant products. Similar glowing
plants have been created separately by other biologists going back to
the 1980s. But the Kickstarter project creators are hopeful that their
effort will go further, and that future iterations of their plants can
replace some electric lighting altogether.
"For us, [Kickstarter’s move] doesn’t change anything," said Omri
Amirav-Drory, one of the project’s creators, a biochemist who is also
CEO of a biotech company Genome Compiler. "We already have the money,
and we’re working on the project as we speak, transforming plants
using DNA. But for me, I’m very sorry to see this, because it puts
synthetic biology in the same category on Kickstarter as hate crimes
and tobacco." Amirav-Drory said he had not been in touch with
Kickstarter about the change in policy, but expressed puzzlement about
it, because his glowing plant project had been featured repeatedly on
Kickstater’s editor-curated project sections.
"IT PUTS SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY IN THE SAME CATEGORY ON KICKSTARTER AS HATE
CRIMES AND TOBACCO."
The creators maintain their project is legal under US law, and that
the risk of cross-pollination is low because the main plant they’re
engineering, arabidopsis, is not native to the US. However, they also
say they won’t be able to send the seeds to countries in the European
Union and other areas where GMO crops are widely curtailed.
Meanwhile,Environmental advocates and some scientists outside of the
project have expressed concerns that it may lead to a negative
perception of synthetic biology, or set a worrisome precedent for
unsupervised release of GMOs. One researcher recently toldNature that
the plants were "frivolous."
As for Kickstarter, the website seems to be trying to insulate itself
against critics of the glowing plants project and GMOs more generally.
But as Amirav-Drory noted to The Verge, Kickstarter’s new stance may
lead scientists like himself to choose other crowdfunding platforms
for their projects going forward.
--
---
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/diybio.
From: Thomas Landrain <thomas....@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 3 Aug 2013 23:27:27 +0200
Subject: [DIYbio] Kickstarter bans project creators from giving away
genetically-modified organisms | The Verge
To: DIYBIO <diy...@googlegroups.com>, Biohacklab <bioha...@lists.tmplab.org>
This backfiring is just the beginning of what the glowing plant
project has triggered, in my sense, by a lack of responsibility. Let's
be humble and take this as a lesson for the future.
T
Kickstarter is clamping down on genetically-modified organisms
following the success of a project to genetically engineer glowing
plants for use as additional lighting in people's homes. Earlier this
week and without explanation, the crowdfunding website quietly altered
its guidelines for project creators, introducing a new term that bans
creators from giving away genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) as
rewards to their online backers. "Projects cannot offer genetically
modified organisms as a reward," the new language states. The
prohibition is effective July 31st, meaning that the popular
glow-in-the-dark plant project is safe, but that any future projects
like it can't offer GMOs to their backers.
"PROJECTS CANNOT OFFER GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS AS A REWARD."
When asked about the change by The Verge, the company provided only
the following canned statement: "we aim to be as open as possible
while protecting the health and creative spirit of Kickstarter for the
long term." Yet the move comes just days after a project called
"Glowing Plants"successfully raised nearly half-a-million dollars.
The project was launched by a team of trained synthetic biologists,
who want to insert bioluminescence genes from bacteria and fireflies
into several types of plans — arabidopsis and roses— to make them glow
in the dark. Project backers who pledged $40 or more were promised
packets of seeds of the final glowing plant products. Similar glowing
plants have been created separately by other biologists going back to
the 1980s. But the Kickstarter project creators are hopeful that their
effort will go further, and that future iterations of their plants can
replace some electric lighting altogether.
"For us, [Kickstarter’s move] doesn’t change anything," said Omri
Amirav-Drory, one of the project’s creators, a biochemist who is also
CEO of a biotech company Genome Compiler. "We already have the money,
and we’re working on the project as we speak, transforming plants
using DNA. But for me, I’m very sorry to see this, because it puts
synthetic biology in the same category on Kickstarter as hate crimes
and tobacco." Amirav-Drory said he had not been in touch with
Kickstarter about the change in policy, but expressed puzzlement about
it, because his glowing plant project had been featured repeatedly on
Kickstater’s editor-curated project sections.
"IT PUTS SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY IN THE SAME CATEGORY ON KICKSTARTER AS HATE
CRIMES AND TOBACCO."
The creators maintain their project is legal under US law, and that
the risk of cross-pollination is low because the main plant they’re
engineering, arabidopsis, is not native to the US. However, they also
say they won’t be able to send the seeds to countries in the European
Union and other areas where GMO crops are widely curtailed.
Meanwhile,Environmental advocates and some scientists outside of the
project have expressed concerns that it may lead to a negative
perception of synthetic biology, or set a worrisome precedent for
unsupervised release of GMOs. One researcher recently toldNature that
the plants were "frivolous."
As for Kickstarter, the website seems to be trying to insulate itself
against critics of the glowing plants project and GMOs more generally.
But as Amirav-Drory noted to The Verge, Kickstarter’s new stance may
lead scientists like himself to choose other crowdfunding platforms
for their projects going forward.
--
---
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/diybio.
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages