Ban Plant-based Transgenic Pharmaceuticals

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> 29 Jul 2004 03:49:35 -0000

 

> Ban Plant-based Transgenic Pharmaceuticals

> press-release

>

>

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>

> ISIS Press Release 29/07/04

>

> Ban Plant-based Transgenic Pharmaceuticals

> ******************************************

>

> Prof. Joe Cummins and Dr. Mae-Wan Ho call for a

> global forum

> and a ban on testing pharm crops, especially in

> Third World

> countries

>

> Sources for this report are available in the ISIS

> members

> site

> http://www.i-sis.org.uk/full/BanpharmcropsFull.php.

> Full details here

> http://www.i-sis.org.uk/membership.php

>

> As one after another biotech giant retreated from

> genetically modified (GM) crops for food and feed in

> Europe

> (see " Biotech investment busy going nowhere " , this

> issue),

> the industry is redoubling its efforts to develop

> plant-

> based transgenic pharmaceuticals in North America

> and

> elsewhere.

>

> In April 2004, California stalled a major attempt to

>

> introduce GM rice producing human lactoferrin and

> lyzozyme

> into 10 counties, but efforts to use rice and other

> food

> crops to produce hazardous pharmaceuticals have

> continued

> unabated.

>

> On 12 July, the European Union (EU) announced the

> award of

> 12 million euros to a network of laboratories in 11

> European

> countries plus South Africa to explore the

> possibilities of

> producing pharmaceuticals grown in genetically

> modified

> plants. The consortium, " Pharma-Planta " , will use

> plants to

> produce vaccines and treatments against major

> diseases

> including AIDS, rabies, diabetes and TB. Human

> trials of the

> drugs are to begin within the next five years. The

> project

> is co-ordinated in the UK by Prof. Julian Ma of St.

> George's

> Medical School London; and John Innes Centre, UK's

> top GM

> crop research institute is also a member of the

> consortium.

>

> A day later, it was revealed that South Africa, the

> only

> member of the consortium outside Europe, is to be

> the test

> site of the first pharm crops. South Africa's

> Council for

> Scientific and Industrial Research is particularly

> interested in potential vaccines against HIV. Philip

> Dale,

> plant technologist at John Innes Centre in Norwich

> and the

> project's biosafety co-ordinator, reportedly said

> that the

> cost of 24-hour surveillance of GM fields in the UK

> has made

> it expensive to conduct similar trials in Britain.

>

> The use of Third World countries for testing and

> producing

> plant-based pharmaceuticals unacceptable both in

> Europe and

> the United States smacks of colonialism. It also

> raises the

> spectre of unmonitored and unregulated human

> exposures to

> the dangerous products. This problem will be

> exacerbated as

> opposition to pharm crops is growing in the United

> States,

> and more Third World countries will be targeted for

> test

> sites and production facilities. ISIS has played a

> key role

> in exposing the marketing of pharm crop products in

> the

> United States previously unbeknownst to the public,

> via a

> gaping loophole in the US regulatory system (see

> " Pharm crop

> products in US market " , this issue).

>

> A coalition of consumer and environmental

> organizations in

> the US issued a call for a moratorium on genetically

>

> engineered pharm crops on 21 July. They want the

> California

> state agencies to conduct a rigorous investigation

> of the

> potential hazards posed by a biotech company's plan

> to

> produce pharmaceutical drugs from genetically

> engineered

> rice.

>

> There is an urgent need for proper international

> regulation

> on the testing and production of plant-based

> pharmaceuticals. The first step may be a wider

> discussion of

> the drawbacks and dangers of plant-based

> pharmaceuticals as

> well the " advantages " put forward by proponents in

> academe

> and corporations. The overlooked dangers of pharm

> crops

> include pharmaceuticals that are toxic, that could

> produce

> immune sensitization followed by anaphylaxis, or

> oral

> tolerance leading to loss of immunity to pathogens;

> and

> general loss of confidence in the food supply. These

> have

> been discussed in numerous reviews from the

> Institute of

> Science in Society.

>

> The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization

> (FAO)

> has run a number of electronic conferences around

> " Agricultural Biotechnology for Developing Countries

> - an

> Electronic Forum " . These moderated discussions have

> been

> quite productive. It is time to have an electronic

> forum on

> " Plant-based Pharmaceuticals in Developing

> Countries " .

>

> Do contact the administrator of the FAO project Dr.

> John

> Ruane, at biotech-admin to call for such a

> forum as

> a matter of urgency. The FAO forums are described at

> the

> following URL:

> http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/004/Y2729E/Y2729E00.HTM

>

> It is important that the testing and production of

> plant-

> based pharmaceutical in the Third World are made

> public

> before they are quietly and extensively carried out

> without

> the informed consent of those directly affected.

>

> Meanwhile, it is imperative to impose a ban on field

> test

> releases and biopharmaceutical production by

> multinational

> corporations and foundations, especially in Third

> World

> countries.

>

>

>

>

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