Fw: BIOPHARM CROPS WILL CONTAMINATE FOOD SUPPLY

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" Elizabeth Sword " <elizabeth

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Wednesday, July 17, 2002 9:11 PM

BIOPHARM CROPS WILL CONTAMINATE FOOD SUPPLY

 

 

> BIOPHARM CROPS WILL CONTAMINATE FOOD SUPPLY

>

> 12 Jul 2002

> PANUPS {panups}

>

> [Posted regularly to http://www.gsenet.org/newsstnd/pan.htm]

>

> PESTICIDE ACTION NETWORK UPDATES SERVICE

>

> July 12, 2002

>

> More than 300 field trials of genetically engineered

> biopharmaceuticals crops already conducted in secret locations

> nationwide.

>

> Genetically Engineered Food Alert, a coalition of U.S. consumer

> and

> environmental groups, called on the U.S. Department of

> Agriculture

> (USDA) to prohibit a new class of genetically engineered food

> crops

> that threatens to contaminate the food supply. In a letter to the

> USDA, the coalition called for an end to open air cultivation of

> crops

> engineered to produce prescription drugs or industrial chemicals.

> The

> new crops, already planted in over 300 field trials at secret

> locations throughout the U.S., include plants that produce an

> abortion-inducing chemical, growth hormones, a blood clotter, and

> trypsin, an allergenic enzyme.

>

> In a new report, the Genetically Engineered Food Alert coalition

> details the threats that biopharm crops pose, the extent to which

> they

> have been planted across the U.S., the failure of regulatory

> agencies

> to serve the public, and a set of recommendations.

>

> " Just one mistake by a biotech company and we'll be eating other

> people's prescription drugs in our corn flakes, " said Larry Bohlen,

> Director of Health and Environment Programs at Friends of the

> Earth, a

> member of the coalition. " The USDA should prohibit the planting of

> food crops engineered with drugs and chemicals to protect the

> food

> supply from contamination. "

>

> The USDA has primary authority for experimental biopharm crop

> cultivation. USDA keeps all drug and chemical crop sites secret

> from

> the public and neighboring farmers, hides the identity of the drug

> or

> chemical in most cases, and condones biopharm companies'

> preferred

> practice of " anonymously " planting these crops without

> identification,

> security measures or notification of neighbors. Joe Jilka of

> ProdiGene, speaking of his company's corn engineered to

> produce a pig

> vaccine (TGEV), seems more concerned about theft than public

> safety:

> " ...the best way to secure it is to grow it just like any other corn.

> In other words, the anonymity of it just completely hides it. You

> know, our TGEV corn grown [sic] was up here by Story City right by

> the

> interstate, and no one could have ever seen it. "

>

> USDA's gene confinement measures are intended to " minimize "

> rather

> than prevent contamination. The few environmental assessments

> conducted by the USDA are of poor quality, and show a disturbing

> willingness to bend the rules. For instance, a trial of alfalfa

> engineered with industrial enzymes was allowed to proceed

> despite the

> presence of non-engineered alfalfa " within 200 yards of the test

> site, " less than the accepted isolation distance. The USDA

> approved

> the field trial plan over the objections of the

>

> Wisconsin Dept. of Agriculture, even though it allowed open

> flowers,

> increasing the contamination risk. USDA is not qualified to

> evaluate

> the health risks of biopharm crops, allows commercial use of

> biopharm

> plant products, and is too understaffed to exercise adequate

> on-the-ground oversight, for the most part allowing companies to

> regulate themselves.

>

> An expert committee of the National Academy of Sciences strongly

> criticized the USDA for these and other regulatory lapses and

> deficiencies. The Academy also warns: " ...it is possible that crops

> transformed to produce pharmaceutical or other industrial

> compounds

> might mate with plantations grown for human consumption, with

> the

> unanticipated result of novel chemicals in the human food supply. "

>

> Corn, a prolific pollinator, is the primary crop engineered to

> produce biopharmaceuticals and chemicals. ProdiGene, the

> company with

> the most plantings of drug and chemical-producing plants,

> projects

> that 10% of the corn crop will be devoted to biopharm production

> by

> 2010. StarLink corn, planted on less than 1% of total U.S. corn

> acreage, contaminated corn seed stock and hundreds of food

> products

> with a potentially allergenic protein, despite regulations intended

> to

> contain it.

>

> Far from supporting containment strategies such as buffer areas,

> Anthony Laos, ProdiGene's CEO, wrote to farmers in 2001 saying

> that:

> " We will be dealing with these distances until we can gain

> regulatory

> approval to lessen or abandon these requirements altogether. "

> Some

> companies also propose extracting drugs or chemicals from

> plants, then

> selling the remainder of the crop for other uses. Incomplete

> extraction could mean drugs or chemicals in food or feed.

>

> The report, entitled " Manufacturing Drugs and Chemicals in Crops:

> Biopharming Poses New Threats to Consumers, Farmers, Food

> Companies

> and the Environment, " and other background materials may be

> found at

> http://www.gefoodalert.org.

>

> - - -

>

> ABOUT THE GE FOOD ALERT COALITION AND

> GEFOODALERT.ORG

>

> Genetically Engineered Food Alert founding members include:

> Center for

> Food Safety, Friends of the Earth, Institute for Agriculture and Trade

> Policy, National Environmental Trust, Organic Consumers

> Association,

> Pesticide Action Network North America, and the State Public

> Interest

> Research Groups.

>

> Genetically Engineered Food Alert supports the removal of

> genetically

> engineered ingredients from grocery store shelves unless they are

> adequately safety tested and labeled. The campaign provides

> web-based

> opportunities for individuals to express concern about genetically

> engineered food and fact sheets on health, environmental and

> economic

> information about genetically engineered food. The coalition is

> endorsed by more than 250 scientists, religious leaders, doctors,

> chefs, environmental and health leaders, as well as farm groups.

>

> Source: GE Food Alert press release, July 11, 2002. Manufacturing

> Drugs and Chemicals in Crops Fact Sheet, July 2002.

>

> Contact: Larry Bohlen, Friends of the Earth, 1025 Vermont Ave NW,

> 3rd

> Floor, Washington DC 20005; phone (202) 783-7400; fax (202)

> 783-0444;

> http://www.foe.org; GE Food Alert, http://www.gefoodalert.org.

>

> * * *

>

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