GMW: Pharma rice firm targets the South

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GMW: Pharma rice firm targets the South

" GM WATCH " <info

Tue, 24 May 2005 10:15:22 +0100

 

 

 

 

GM WATCH daily

http://www.gmwatch.org

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1.Ventria may grow rice outside U.S.

2.Biotech rice company moves again

 

COMMENT

 

Even Monsanto''s home state of Missouri seems to be proving too hot for

GM pharma rice firm Ventria - already on the run from California.

First, it looked like Ventria might have to move its experimental

rice-growing to North Carolina with the option of trying to grow it in

Missouri

next year. But now (as GM Watch predicted) with the US food industry

breathing down its neck everywhere it tries to go, Ventria has its

eyes on

the South.

 

Be interesting to see whether the US administration helps Ventria on

its way: " Dodgy industries selling dubious wares have long headed for the

Third World when their activities have been questioned in the

West. The biotech industry has been following this well-trodden path

ever since consumers in Europe turned against GM food and crops. And

these wares have had unprecedented backing from the US government, which

has relentlessly bullied reluctant governments in developing countries to

accept them. " - Independent on Sunday, Leading Article: ''GM by the

back door''

http://ngin.tripod.com/160902a.htm

 

EXCERPTS:

 

North Carolina represent[ed] the third move for Ventria after hostile

receptions in Missouri and California for its biotech rice. (earlier

article - item 2)

 

Now, the best option is outside of the United States...

 

" We are evaluating our options and looking at possible locations in

Puerto Rico and South America " - Ventria''s president, Scott Deeter

(latest article - item 1)

 

IF ANYONE CAN GET THE FULL ARTICLE FOR ITEM 1, PLEASE LET US KNOW.

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1.Ventria may grow rice outside U.S.

St. Joseph News Press, MO

[excerpts only - subscription article]

http://www.stjoenews-press.com/main.asp?SectionID=81 & SubSectionID=272 & ArticleID=\

65370 & TM=6744.166

 

Ventria had originally planned to raise genetically modified rice in

the Missouri Bootheel this year. But after Anheuser-Busch announced it

would not purchase any Missouri-grown rice if the altered rice was

planted, Ventria agreed not to grow the crop within 120 miles of

commercial

rice fields

 

Now, the best option is outside of the United States, said Scott

Deeter, president of Ventria.

 

" We are evaluating our options and looking at possible locations in

Puerto Rico and South America, " he said. " Growing in the Southern

Hemisphere will allow Ventria to diversify production locations and

have two

growing seasons per year. "

 

....Plans to relocate the company to Northwest Missouri State University

in Maryville, however, are going forward, thanks to some help from the

Missouri General Assembly

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2.Biotech rice company moves again

By Jim Wasserman

Sacramento Bee, CA, April 30, 2005

http://www.ncsu.edu/news/dailyclips/0505/050205.htm#DJ7

 

A tiny Sacramento biotech firm that aims to revolutionize the

production of medicine by growing it in rice said Friday it will end

its quest

to grow the crop in Missouri and instead plant a 5-acre experiment in

North Carolina.

 

Ventria Bioscience also is exploring growing experimental rice in South

America and Puerto Rico, said Scott Deeter, chief executive officer of

the

12-year-old company.

 

Deeter cited opposition from " a pretty loud few " among Missouri rice

farmers, a lengthy new approval process by federal agriculture

authorities and a May 20 planting deadline for the decision to

temporarily back

off growing rice in Missouri this year.

 

" We didn''t want to go through the process. We didn''t have time to do

that, " Deeter said in a telephone interview Friday.

 

But he promised to return to Missouri next year.

 

North Carolina represents the third move for Ventria after hostile

receptions in Missouri and California for its biotech rice. Though Deeter

calls the rice a " phenomenal product that can make a difference in the

world, " farmers in both states expressed fears it would infiltrate the

conventional rice fields and scare consumers.

 

Ventria wants to use the rice as a means to making lysozyme and

lactoferrin, two proteins that could be used to develop anti-diarrhea

drugs.

 

Many inside California''s $500 million rice industry worried that

cross-contamination could endanger exports to Japan.

 

St. Louis-based beer giant Anheuser-Busch Cos. threatened earlier this

year to boycott Missouri rice if Ventria were allowed to plant

pharmaceutical rice in the state, but it backed down this month when

Ventria

said it would plant the rice 120 miles from the state''s rice belt.

 

That change in location triggered requirements for time-consuming new

approvals from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

 

Deeter said the firm''s newest 5-acre site is in eastern North Carolina

and is affiliated with North Carolina State University. But he said the

plot, which has federal Agriculture Department approval, is not on the

university''s Raleigh-based campus.

 

Activists who oppose pharmaceutical rice experiments hailed Ventria''s

Missouri announcement and pledged to shift their opposition campaigns

to North Carolina.

 

" We''re pretty convinced, with extreme weather conditions and human

error, these pharmaceuticals are eventually going to get into the food

supply, " said Jane Rissler, a senior scientist with the Union of

Concerned

Scientists.

 

On Friday, a spokeswoman for Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt expressed

disappointment with Ventria''s decision.

 

" At this point we''re hopeful Ventria will consider Missouri again for

planting pharmaceutical rice, " said spokeswoman Jessica Robinson.

" It''s very important to the governor to bring pharmaceutical crops and

companies like Ventria to Missouri. "

 

Deeter said Ventria will grow " breeding stock " for the experimental

rice in four Missouri locations this year and continue design work for a

processing facility to extract proteins from rice. The firm is leaving

California this year and moving to a new headquarters at Northwest

Missouri State University in Maryville.

 

 

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