Bayer’s Modified Soil Microbes Could Trigger a Genetically Engineered Doomsday

Bayer is working with the Bill Gates-backed Pivot Bio on genetically engineered nitrogen-fixing bacteria. The promise is that it could cut synthetic fertilizer use, but there's no evidence of that.

By: Alexis Baden-Mayer

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

• Bayer’s modified soil microbes could trigger a genetically engineered doomsday for agriculture

• 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

• They say they’re going to swap out some of the old fos…