If you don't like the toxic pollution from industrial agriculture's synthetic nitrogen fertilizers and pesticides, Bayer and its partner, Ginkgo Bioworks, have a solution for you.

They say they're going to swap out some of the old fossil-fuel-based agrochemicals for genetically engineered microbes. We're no fan of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, but let's not jump from the frying pan into the ?re! The uncontrolled spread of genetically engineered microbes could contaminate soil on such a vast scale that it could be the end of farming!

You don't have to take our word for it, just read Ginkgo's own report to the Securities and Exchange Commission. It's like a sci-? writer's brainstorm of plots for a disaster movie:

"The release of genetically modified organisms or materials, whether inadvertent or purposeful, into uncontrolled environments could have unintended consequences …

The genetically engineered organisms and materials that we develop may have significantly altered characteristics compared to those found in the wild, and the full effects of deployment or release of our genetically engineered organisms and materials into uncontrolled environments may be unknown.

In particular, such deployment or release, including an unauthorized release, could impact the environment or community generally or the health and safety of our employees, our customers' employees, and the consumers of our customers' products.