Story at a glance:<\/strong><\/p>\n In an April 17, opinion piece in\u00a0STAT News<\/a>, Dr. Peter Lurie and Beth Ellikidis argue for the genetic engineering of food, claiming \u201cnewer technologies can make highly targeted changes at the base-pair level \u2014 one specific rung on the DNA ladder \u2014 enhancing precision and reducing the likelihood of \u2018off-target effects\u2019 in which the base pairs are unintentionally added to or deleted from the genome.\u201d<\/p>\n While targeted genetic engineering is indeed possible, and modern technology lowers the likelihood of unintentional additions or deletions, this precision does not guarantee there won\u2019t be adverse effects.<\/p>\n One of the reasons for this is that\u00a0many genes are multifunctional<\/a>\u00a0and can have multiple downstream effects.<\/p>\n By altering a\u00a0single gene<\/a>, you can inadvertently affect the expression of hundreds of others. What\u2019s more, the multifunctionality of genes is rarely intuitive.<\/p>\n So, while it may seem convenient to\u00a0genetically engineer cows without horns<\/a>\u00a0to prevent injury to other cows and farmhands, as suggested by Lurie and Ellikidis, there\u2019s no telling what that tweak might do to internal organs or biological pathways.<\/p>\n In turn, there\u2019s no guarantee that cascading effects will not alter the nutrition of the meat or dairy that comes from that cow. Maybe it\u2019ll be fine, maybe it won\u2019t. The problem is that, oftentimes with\u00a0genetically engineered foods<\/a>, safety testing is minimal or absent.<\/p>\n Who do Lurie and Ellikidis answer to?<\/strong><\/p>\n When assessing the trustworthiness of people, it can be worthwhile to look at their funding and various partnerships.<\/p>\n In the case of Lurie and Ellikidis, both are in league with\u00a0Bill Gates<\/a>\u00a0and other \u201cgreat resetters\u201d that are pushing to replace all-natural foods with patentable, genetically modified foods.<\/p>\n Lurie \u2014 a former U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) associate commissioner \u2014 is the president of the\u00a0Center for Science in the Public Interest<\/a>. In the summer of 2020, Lurie launched a comprehensive campaign to put Mercola.com out of business by sending the FDA and the Federal Trade Commission after us based on bogus charges.<\/p>\n CSPI is funded by the\u00a0Rockefeller Foundation<\/a>, the Rockefeller Family Fund, Bloomberg Philanthropies and other billionaire-owned foundations. It\u2019s also partnered with the Cornell Alliance for Science, a \u201cglobal communications initiative\u201d whose primary funding comes from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.<\/p>\n Greg Jaffe, who heads up\u00a0CSPI\u2019s Biotechnology Project<\/a>, is also the associate director of legal affairs at Alliance for Science.<\/p>\n Considering those ties, the CSPI\u2019s long history of promoting industry science and propaganda is not surprising in the least. They supported artificial sweeteners, trans fats, GMOs, fake meat and the low-fat myth. They\u2019ve also actively undermined transparency in labeling efforts.<\/p>\n Ellikidis, meanwhile, is the vice president of agriculture and environment at the BIO. She\u2019s leading the \u201cpolicy and market access strategies for\u00a0BIO\u2019s Agriculture and Environment<\/a>\u00a0section, which includes member companies developing and producing breakthrough technologies in food and agriculture.\u201d<\/p>\n BIO, the world\u2019s largest\u00a0GMO trade organization<\/a>, represents more than 1,000 pesticide, pharmaceutical and biotech companies in more than 30 countries, as well as industry groups, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and other related organizations.<\/p>\n According to BIO, genetic engineering is the solution to heal, fuel and feed the world. To that end, it has lobbying committees dedicated to influencing 15 different policy areas, including food, agriculture, healthcare policy, technology transfer and finance.<\/p>\n According to\u00a0Open Secrets<\/a>, BIO spent $13,250,000 on \u201cpharmaceutical and health products<\/a>\u201d lobbying in 2022. For reference, only Pfizer and the lobbying group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America spent more.<\/p>\n How Gates sets himself up for success<\/strong><\/p>\n In 2004, BIO launched\u00a0BVGH<\/a>, a nonprofit organization that \u201cstrategically develops and manages programs across the for-profit and non-profit sectors to accelerate research and development (R&D) for poverty-related diseases.\u201d<\/p>\n BVGH was launched with a $1 million start-up grant from the\u00a0Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 2005, the BVGH received another $5.4 million to expand the biotech industry\u2019s role in the fight against neglected diseases. The Rockefeller Foundation is also funding the group.<\/p>\n Fast-forward to 2018, and the\u00a0Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation<\/a>\u00a0spun off a nonprofit subsidiary to the foundation called Gates MRI.<\/p>\n Gates MRI<\/a>, funded with a $273 million, four-year grant from the Gates Foundation, is focused on developing biotechnologies to address health problems in poor countries.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a convenient setup to say the least.<\/p>\n On the one hand, Gates is funding the R&D of biotech products through Gates MRI, and on the other, he\u2019s funding the acceleration, coordination and management of private-public biotech programs through BVGH.<\/p>\n One key area where the BVGH is being inserted to manage private-public programs is the \u201cCancer Moonshot<\/a>\u201d program, launched in 2016 by then-Vice President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n Biden \u201creignited\u201d and highlighted the program in 2022.<\/p>\n As reported in a\u00a0White House fact sheet<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cWorking with African Access Initiative (AAI) partners, BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH) will implement cancer research projects that are determined and led by African oncologists and conducted in collaboration with U.S. cancer experts.<\/p>\n \u201cThrough its African Consortium for Cancer Clinical Trials (AC3T) program, BVGH will facilitate five research projects, build capacity to conduct rigorous clinical research at 50 African sites, promote African primary investigator\u2019s research interests on the AC3T platform, and coordinate the implementation of observational clinical studies.<\/p>\n \u201cIn addition to building AC3T sites\u2019 research capacity, BVGH will map the regulatory pathway in five AAI countries. All clinical studies involving cancer drugs will include development of market access pathways by BVGH.\u201d<\/p>\n Gates MRI, in turn, intends to \u201capply new understanding of the human immune system learned from\u00a0cancer research<\/a>\u00a0to prevent infectious disease.\u201d<\/p>\n Conveniently, he\u2019s got the inside track to all of that through the BVGH.<\/p>\n Biowarfare partners<\/strong><\/p>\n\n
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