A fantastic - yet alarming - new report from our colleagues at Friends of the Earth details the current state of biotech giants creating GE microbes to be released into the soil as part of their sales package to farmers. More of the same empty promises but this time around "biologicals." 

Biologicals differ from chemicals and even traditional GMOs in that they are living gene edited (GE) microorganisms applied to soil that can reproduce, spread, and interact with other microbes and other species. "Releasing GE microbes in agriculture represents an unprecedented open-air experiment," the report states, "that may have irreversible consequences." These consequences go well beyond the soil to risks to human, plant, and animal health as well as the greater environment. 

These biotech giants are attempting to market these biologicals as their answer to regenerative agriculture. But farmers have to buy into the whole system of chemicals, seeds, and traditional GMOs to have access to these further insults to the Earth.

 "We can't replace a jug of chemicals with a jug of biologicals and think we're   going to have a sustainable farming system — a holistic approach achieves   better, more consistent results than 'silver bullet' microbes that can be   isolated, produced and marketed." 

                  –Genetically Engineered Soil Microbes: Risks and Concerns, pg.11.

We call this new era of genetic modification GMO 2.0 as it goes well beyond food. Anything with DNA is in play. 

The full report can be found HERE and an article on the findings can be found HERE for further reading. 

In the meantime, keep reading below to see a short reel on IRT's take on the risks and how you can help make our voice heard for meaningful regulation of GMO 2.0 in agriculture. 

Did you catch our popular reel on social media about this very subject? GMOs don't belong in the soil.