Short thread on why the synthetic food column by @GeorgeMonbiot in Jan 2020 is so far out of whack, we should all be calling for his resignation from @Guardian for misdirection & clear pro-corporate bias.

The jig is up George. Come out of hiding, we have you surrounded! 1/n

To start, let's let him speak - the column in January 8th was timed to coincide with the Oxford Real Farming Conference #ORFC @ORFC & intended to #ManufactureConsent for the horror of genetically modified synthetic food & the biotech industry @GMWatch 2/n https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jan/08/lab-grown-food-destroy-farming-save-planet

"It sounds like a miracle, but no great technological leaps were required. In a commercial lab on the outskirts of Helsinki, I watched scientists turn water into food. Through a porthole in a metal tank, I could see a yellow froth churning. It’s a primordial soup of bacteria" 3/n

"taken from the soil and multiplied in the laboratory, using HYDROGEN extracted from water as its energy source. When the froth was siphoned through a tangle of pipes and squirted on to heated rollers, it turned into a rich yellow flour" 4/n

#HydrogenEconomy @Cedders68

"Such flours are likely soon to become the feedstock for almost everything. In their raw state, they can replace the fillers now used in thousands of food products. When the bacteria are MODIFIED they will create the specific proteins needed for lab-grown meat, milk and eggs" 5/n

There are at least main points from these sections. I've highlighted the key phrases in bold.

Firstly, the so-called 'Hydrogen Economy' has been heavily pushed this year by corporate and state interests in the UK and by The Guardian newspaper. This scenario is a fallacy. 6/n

Secondly, when George says "modified" he means genetically modified or gene edited to give the latest version of the technology its common name. This would most likely mean CRISPR/Cas-9 technology, which is now being exposed as being imprecise & dangerous 7/n

@Beyond_GM #CRISPR

"The first commercial factory built by Solar Foods should be running next year." - There is a clear corporate bias here. Does @GeorgeMonbiot or his dependents have any financial interest in this company? If so, was this declared to the Guardian or via the correct process?

8/n

"The hydrogen pathway used by Solar Foods is about 10 times as efficient as photosynthesis" - Do you have any academic references to back up this rather grandiose claim George? 9/n

If not, I will dismantle this claim in due course.

"Everyone on Earth could be handsomely fed, and using a tiny fraction of its surface."

Another bold claim for which there is little academic support. Unless George can furnish us with the data of how he derived his conclusion? 10/n