Vanilla From A Petri Dish? Just Say "NO" To Genetically Engineered Vanilla!

Natural vanilla flavor comes from a vanilla bean, right?

Maybe not for long -- a new genetically engineered ingredient, straight out of a petri dish, is about to enter our favorite foods, from ice cream to birthday cake. 

Synbio vanilla -- produced by a form of extreme genetic engineering called “synthetic biology” -- is stranger than science fiction, but regulators will still let food companies call it "natural".

So we're asking major ice cream companies like Haagen Dazs, Dreyer’s, Edy’s, Baskin Robbins and others not to use this experimental genetically engineered  vanilla in their products.

The truth is, this new vanilla doesn’t even come from a plant. Instead, it is made in labs using synthetic DNA and genetically engineered yeast which exists nowhere in nature.

There’s nothing "natural" about genetically engineered yeast that excretes vanilla flavoring. 

What’s worse, the FDA hasn’t even bothered to test this laboratory creation as a new product. Instead the agency will likely approve it as “Generally Regarded As Safe”.

As the first major use of synthetic biology in our food, synbio vanilla could set a dangerous precedent and open the floodgates to allow more synthetic, genetically engineered ingredients labeled as “natural”.

Ice cream companies are one of the biggest purchasers of vanilla flavoring and we need your help to send them a strong message: don't use this unnatural “synbio vanilla” in your ice cream. 

If we can get the message through to food companies, then we can help end this dangerous experiment with nature and our food before it begins. 

And if all of this wasn’t bad enough, this new synbio vanilla could speed rainforest destruction, and harm sustainable farmers and poor communities that rely on rainforest-raised vanilla beans to survive.

Help us keep “natural” natural! Tell ice cream companies to keep extreme genetic engineering out of our ice cream!

Standing with you,

Peter Stocker
Membership Director