‘Synthetic Biology: The $3.6 Trillion Science Changing Life As We Know It’
NASA Synthetic Biology Lab
In addition to threats posed by the increasing amounts of genetically modified organism (GMO) crops, there is another threat, known as synthetic biology:
Synthetic Biology: The $3.6 Trillion Science Changing Life As We Know It
May 13, 2022
Synthetic biology (synbio) is a field of science that redesigns organisms … although it has the potential to transform many aspects of society, things could go horribly wrong if synbio is used for malicious or unethical reasons. …
While the potential economic and societal benefits of synthetic biology are vast, there are a number of risks to be aware of as well:
- Unintended biological consequences: Making tweaks to any biological system can have ripple effects across entire ecosystems or species. When any sort of lifeform is manipulated, things don’t always go according to plan.
- Moral issues: How far we’re comfortable going with synbio depends on our values. Certain synbio applications, such as embryo editing, are controversial. If these types of applications become mainstream, they could have massive societal implications, with the potential to increase polarization within communities.
- Unequal access: Innovation and progress in synbio is happening faster in wealthier countries than it is in developing ones. If this trend continues, access to these types of technology may not be equal worldwide. We’ve already witnessed this type of access gap during the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, where a majority of vaccines have been administered in rich countries.
- Bioweaponry: Synbio could be used to recreate viruses, or manipulate bacteria to make it more dangerous, if used with ill intent.
According to a group of scientists at the University of Edinburgh, communication between the public, synthetic biologists, and political decision-makers is crucial so that these societal and environmental risks can be mitigated.
COVID may have been a form of synthetic biology. Related to that, we made the following video:
Biological Warfare and Prophecy
Is biological warfare possible? Was it prophesied? Scientists have long warned that pathogenic organisms like the coronavirus could be weaponized. Furthermore, back in 2017, there were concerns that the biological research facility being constructed in Wuhan, China was risky and that a coronavirus from it could be released. On January 25, 2020, China’s President Xi Jinping publicly stated that the situation with the Wuhan-related strain of the coronavirus was grave. Did Church of God writers like the late evangelist Raymond McNair warn that engineered viruses (the “Doomsday bug”) were consistent with prophecies from Jesus? Did a warning from CCOG leader Bob Thiel warn about risks of genetically-modified (GMO) mosquitoes come to pass? Could human research and/or the consumption of biblically-unclean animals such as bats and snakes be a factor in current outbreaks or coming future pestilences? What about famines? How devastating have pestilences been? How devastating are the prophesied ones going to be? Dr. Thiel addresses these issues and more.
Here is a link to our video: Biological Warfare and Prophecy.
Coronaviruses are a type of pestilence consistent with troubles and sorrows.
The Bible warns:
12 There is a way that seems right to a man,
But its end is the way of death. (Proverbs 14:12, NKJV)
We have seen that related to COVID.
As far as the food supply and synthetic biology goes, notice something back in 2014:
New Form of GMO Sneaking Into Food Supply This Year
A Switzerland based company called Evolva has developed a synthetic vanilla that is set to be released in 2014. The vanilla is created using a process of genetic engineering called synthetic biology.
Synthetic biology, according to a 2005 European Commission paper is “…the engineering of biology… the synthesis of complex, biologically based (or inspired) systems which display functions that do not exist in nature.” Unlike the older science of splicing genes from different species together, synthetic biology is seeking to create whole new organisms that do not exist on earth.
Evolva’s synthetic vanilla is created by inserting computer coded DNA into yeast. This new method of genetic engineering is called “natural” by Evolva.
Here is more about it:
Synthetic biology vanillin is distinct from the artificial vanillin already on the market, although both are engineered in labs. Artificial vanillin is a mix of chemical components. The new synthetic biology vanillin is synthesized by a genetically engineered organism. While synthetic biologists claim that the yeast’s fermentation process is natural 10, it requires computer coded yeast that only exists inside of a lab.
Synthetic biology vanillin is made with a new synthetic genetic code inserted into yeast. Using a computer, scientists edit the DNA in yeast and insert the computer generated DNA, and then through a fermentation process, force the yeast to biosynthesize vanillin11. Even though this vanillin is engineered and created by a pathway that does not exist in nature, the synthetic vanillin marketers, Evola® and its partner, International Flavours and Fragances, are trying to distance synthetic biology from genetic engineering stigma and market it as “natural”.
Natural Vanilla depends upon intact tropical ecosystems, and its harvest is very labor intensive. Pure vanilla comes from the Vanilla orchid: Vanilla planifolia. Each flower is pollinated, harvested, sorted and cured by hand. One kilogram of vanilla extracts requires about 500 kg of these vanilla beans12. The knowledge of vanilla farming is intertwined with its cultural importance and its tradition has been passed between families for hundreds of years. Without the natural vanilla market adding economic value to the rainforest in these regions, these last standing rainforests will not be protected from deforestation and sugar cane used to feed the yeast will replace the forests.
Synthetic biology vanillin will severely impact the natural vanilla market and could harm sustainable farmers and poor communities across the world. The natural vanilla market depends on consumer demand. Without labeling requirements, consumers will not know if the “natural” product is made with real vanilla beans or synthetic biology vanillin . This could devastate the international natural vanilla market.
Natural vanilla is a high value natural product, and sells for $1,200-$4,000 per kilogram.
Internationally, the natural vanilla market is approximately $240 million per year. This is a significant part of the economy for the vanilla growing regions, which are primarily in developing countries…
Production of synthetic biology vanillin is not environmentally sustainable at the industrial scale…It is unclear if synthetic biology vanillin is safe to eat, or what impacts if the synthetic organisms may have upon were interact with natural organisms or ecosystems.
We do not have adequate regulatory agencies or sufficient independent data to determine this. Without precautionary testing and regulations that are specific to synthetic biology and which recognize it is as a unique and complex technology, we may not find emergent health threats until it is too late18.
There is a lack of Federal regulations for synthetic biology. Similar to regulatory challenges with genetically engineered products, the FDA has not developed risk assessment protocols to assess whether the byproducts of synthetic biology may pose ecological risks in the likely event that these unique new synthetic organisms escape into the environment 19.
Instead of approving vanilla made from this new experimental genetic technology as “Generally Regarded As Safe”, without specific agency tests, regulatory agencies should test each new product and assess whether it is safe for use in foods. Currently, weak regulations around genetic engineering and synthetic biology could allow this engineered SynBio vanilla flavoring to be labeled as “natural” under US and EU labeling regulations20.
GMOs are not safe, GMOs are dangerous. This is going the wrong direction. GMOs are likely to cause food shortages, including famines in the USA, UK, and Canada.
As far as NOT being natural goes, let me state that nearly all vitamin supplements sold are synthetic isolates and are not truly natural. Marketers and scientists have misled many.
Do not believe that scientists have all the answers and have ever possibly ‘fully tested’ synthetic biology or GMOs.
Now, consider that according to the Bible, many in the USA, Canada, and the UK will die from lack of food in the future and be taken captive. Notice:
47 “Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, 48 therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you. 49 The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand, 50 a nation of fierce countenance, which does not respect the elderly nor show favor to the young. 51 And they shall eat the increase of your livestock and the produce of your land, until you are destroyed; they shall not leave you grain or new wine or oil, or the increase of your cattle or the offspring of your flocks, until they have destroyed you. (Deuteronomy 28:47-51)
9 Her uncleanness is in her skirts; She did not consider her destiny; Therefore her collapse was awesome; She had no comforter. “O Lord, behold my affliction, For the enemy is exalted!” (Lamentations 1:9)
19 “Arise, cry out in the night, At the beginning of the watches; Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift your hands toward Him for the life of your young children, Who faint from hunger at the head of every street.” (Lamentations 2:19)
9 Those slain by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger; For these pine away, Stricken for lack of the fruits of the field. 10 The hands of the compassionate women have cooked their own children; They became food for them in the destruction of the daughter of my people. (Lamentations 4:9-10)
4 We pay for the water we drink, And our wood comes at a price. 5 They pursue at our heels; We labor and have no rest. 6 We have given our hand to the Egyptians And the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread. 7 Our fathers sinned and are no more, But we bear their iniquities. 8 Servants rule over us; There is none to deliver us from their hand”. (Lamentations 5:4-8)
10 Then He said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11 And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven. (Luke 21:10-11)
5 When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come and see.” So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.” (Revelation 6:5-6)
It will probably take a “perfect storm” of events for this to occur including droughts, floods, earthquakes, civil unrest, hurricanes, tornadoes, disease, GMO and other crop failure, combined with foreign events and/or the increasingly increased debt of the USA to trigger some of this (and not all will be related to, or limited to, the USA), but it will happen. But I have long believed that GMO crop failure would likely be a major factor–yet the USA, UK, and Canada seemed determined to increase this risk.
In the last century, prior to the introduction of GMO “foods”, the late Herbert W. Armstrong wrote:
And so man IS just what he eats. Some of the most famous physicians and surgeons have said that 90% to 95% of all sickness and disease comes from faulty diet!
Most people are in utter ignorance of the fact that it does make a difference what we eat! Most people, and the customs of society, have followed a regimen of eating whatever tastes good to the palate.
Adults are babies grown up. Observe a nine-month-old baby. Everything that comes into his hands goes to his mouth!
My youngest brother may not like to read this in print, but I remember when he was about nine months old, and had managed to creep into the basement coal bin. We found him trying to eat little chunks of coal—his mouth and face well blackened!
You may laugh at babies trying to eat silver cups and chunks of coal. Or at people who dip small mice into a sauce, and, holding them by their tails, drop them as a delicious delicacy into their mouths.
If you do, they will laugh back at you. They will tell you that mice eat clean grain and clean foods, while you dip slimy, slithery oysters and other scavenger seafoods into cocktail sauces, and consider them a delicacy!
You think adults have actually LEARNED any better than nine-month-olds babies? Go to your fancy grocer’s and you’ll find on his shelves canned eel and canned rattlesnake.
WHY? As I said, humans know nothing at birth! We have to learn! But most of us do not know that! And, again, what we don’t know, we don’t know that we don’t know! And somehow, ever since babyhood, most humans seem to have grown up putting everything into the mouth. Most have grown up eating just whatever seemed to taste good—and whatever they saw others eating. There has been little education or even study about WHAT we ought—or ought NOT—to eat.
Most degenerative diseases are modern diseases—penalties for eating foods that have been demineralized in food factories—usually an excess of starch, sugar (the carbohydrates) and fats. Others are caused by a type of malnutrition—lack of needed minerals and vitamins in foods. Then people try to put the “vitamins” back into their systems by buying pills at the drugstore! (More on this can be found in the article HWA: Third Law of Success: Good Health.)
Basically the Bible advocates eating real food (it does not consider unclean meats to be food) and not too much of it. GMOs and other synthetic substances are not real food, and should be avoided when possible (which is more and more difficult to do in places like the USA).
Synthetic biology is not what the world needs. Jesus, repentance, and the Kingdom of God is. The world seems to wish to go the wrong direction on this.
Some items of possibly related interest may include:
Biological Warfare and Prophecy Is biological warfare possible? Was it prophesied? Scientists have long warned that pathogenic organisms like the coronavirus could be weaponized. Furthermore, back in 2017, there were concerns that the biological research facility being constructed in Wuhan, China was risky and that a coronavirus from it could be released. On January 25, 2020, China’s President Xi Jinping publicly stated that the situation with the Wuhan-related strain of the coronavirus was grave. Did Church of God writers like the late evangelist Raymond McNair warn that engineered viruses (the “Doomsday bug”) were consistent with prophecies from Jesus? Did a warning from CCOG leader Bob Thiel warn about risks of genetically-modified (GMO) mosquitoes come to pass? Could human research and/or the consumption of biblically-unclean animals such as bats and snakes be a factor in current outbreaks or coming future pestilences? What about famines? How devastating have pestilences been? How devastating are the prophesied ones going to be? Dr. Thiel addresses these issues and more in this video.
GMOs and Bible Prophecy What are GMOs? Since they were not in the food supply until 1994, how could they possibly relate to Bible prophecy? Do GMOs put the USA and others at risk? Here are some related videos: GMO Risks and the Bible and GMOs, Lab meat, Hydrogenation: Safe or Dangerous?
Chimeras: Has Science Crossed the Line? What are chimeras? Has science crossed the line? Does the Bible give any clues? A video of related interest is Half human, half pig: What’s the difference? and Human-Monkey Embryos and Death.
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse What do each of the four horseman of the Apocalypse represent? Have they began their ride? Did Jesus discuss the any of this? Might their rides coincide with the “beginning of sorrows? Do they start their ride prior to the Great Tribulation? Did Nostradamus or any other ‘private prophets’ write predictions that may mislead people so that they may not understand the truth of one or more of the four horseman? There is also a related YouTube video titled Sorrows and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
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