GM rice sets off whirlwind of criticism and concern

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GMW: GM rice sets off whirlwind of criticism and concern

" GM WATCH " <info

Sun, 10 Jul 2005 23:06:17 +0100

 

 

 

 

GM WATCH daily

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They thought they might have to flee to the developing world to get to

grow this stuff, but they finally found a state prepared to take it.

 

" They were run out of California, run out of Missouri, and then

welcomed with open arms in Eastern North Carolina. I just can't see

this as a

viable rural-development strategy for North Carolina. "

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Grain of Doubt

Genetically modified rice in Eastern North Carolina is setting off a

whirlwind of criticism and concern

By David Rice

JOURNAL RALEIGH, Sunday, July 10, 2005

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IMAGE CAPTION: Ventria Bloscience has planted 75 acres of genetically

engineered rice near Plymouth.

 

Genetically modified rice in Eastern North Carolina is setting off a

whirlwind of criticism and concern

 

PLYMOUTH - North Carolina farmers haven't grown rice in many years, so

they welcome the green sprigs now poking out of a flooded field near an

agricultural-research station here.

 

But this is not your Uncle Ben's rice.

 

Last month, with approval of two permits from the U.S. Department of

Agriculture, Ventria Bioscience, a biotechnology company in California,

planted 75 acres of rice that has been genetically engineered to produce

proteins found in human milk, saliva and tears.

 

The company says that the proteins it will extract from the rice

eventually could be used in granola bars, sports drinks or rehydration

formula to help infants in the Third World avoid death from diarrhea.

 

Environmentalists say that the rice poses a significant threat to other

crops and to the human food chain.

 

The planting is on private land near the state-owned Tidewater Research

Station in Washington County. On the way to North Carolina, Ventria

encountered opposition from rice growers, food vendors and

environmentalists in California and Missouri.

 

When the company tried to grow its rice in Missouri this spring,

beer-maker Anheuser-Busch threatened not to buy any rice grown in

Missouri.

The two companies eventually reached a truce in which Ventria agreed not

to grow genetically modified rice within 120 miles of commercial rice

crops.

 

Environmentalists and others say that the recent planting of Ventria's

rice crop near Plymouth brings the international debate over

genetically modified foods to North Carolina.

 

It also tests the state's considerable efforts to throw out a welcome

mat for the biotech industry.

 

" If it wasn't a food crop, I think it would be a lot less

controversial. But they've chosen to introduce a genetically modified,

pharmaceutical-producing food crop in North Carolina, " said Hope

Shand, the research

director at the Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration

in Carrboro.

 

" They were run out of California, run out of Missouri, and then

welcomed with open arms in Eastern North Carolina, " Shand said. " I

just can't

see this as a viable rural-development strategy for North Carolina.

 

" Many scientists have concluded that it's virtually impossible to

contain these pharmaceutical crops, " Shand said. " It's not just a

bunch of

wild-eyed environmentalists who are concerned about this. We have the

Grocery Manufacturers Association, the Food Products Association who are

concerned about this experiment. "

 

Researchers also use a nursery at the research station, less than a

mile from Ventria's test site, to grow seed stock for new rice varieties.

Scientists involved in those tests say that Plymouth was chosen for the

tests because it is 650 miles east of any commercial rice crop.

 

At least two scientists wrote to the USDA to say that there is a remote

possibility that pollen or disease from Ventria's rice could

contaminate rice grown at the nearby nursery and be distributed to

rice growers

nationwide.

 

" It's not smart to introduce this pharmaceutical rice so close to

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

Concerned Scientists in Washington.

 

" That's the fundamental mistake - pharmaceuticals should not be grown

in food crops, " Rissler said. " With human error, with the vagaries of

weather, it's going to be practically impossible to keep this out of the

food supply. "

 

Company officials say that the risks are overstated, and that they take

every precaution to isolate Ventria's rice.

 

They point out that, unlike corn, rice is self-pollinating. The plant's

male and female organs are contained within the same flower, so its

pollen rarely travels farther than a few feet.

 

" There is a .001 percent chance of cross-pollination within 10 or 15

feet, " said Somen Nandi, the director of molecular breeding for Ventria,

who is evaluating which of the company's rice varieties grow best in

North Carolina.

 

At the test site, an 18-inch dike borders the rice plots to keep water

in the field. A dedicated ditch provides water only to the rice field,

and water is screened before it leaves the field to keep rice from

traveling.

 

Company officials say they will use equipment that is used only to grow

and harvest Ventria's rice. After harvest, they will drain the field

and burn the remnants to destroy plant matter.

 

And they say that adequate buffers are in place to protect other crops

from any crop migration. Nandi pointed to a field of cotton 200 feet

away, across a dirt road and a ditch.

 

" Not a single plant of rice will grow there. Not a single plant, " he

said. " It (the rice plot) is a completely unique ecological niche. "

 

Like much of the cotton grown in Eastern North Carolina, the cotton

across the road has been genetically modified for resistance to the

herbicide Roundup so that farmers can overspray young plants and make

fewer

applications overall.

 

" This (cotton) is 100 percent GMO, " Nandi said. " What's the problem

with rice? "

 

Scott Deeter, Ventria's president, says that human proteins for use in

rehydration formulas such as Pedialyte could help prevent the deaths of

1.9 million children that the World Health Organization estimates are

killed by diarrhea each year.

 

" Breast-fed babies are healthier than babies who are fed with infant

formula. These two proteins are part of the reason for that, " Deeter

said.

 

" It's a significant human-health problem, " he said. " The challenge, of

course, is we've got to have a cost-effective, affordable therapy.

That's the advantage of using the rice. "

 

Once harvested, Ventria's rice would not enter the food supply as

grain, he said. It would be pulverized into a powder. " We're not directly

feeding the rice. We're using the rice sort of as a factory, and we're

extracting the proteins, " he said. Though it won USDA approval to grow

its rice here, Ventria is still waiting for the U.S. Food and Drug

Administration to approve its two human proteins - lactoferrin and

lysozyme -

for use in foods. The proteins are being tested in Peru for use in

treating acute diarrhea, Deeter said.

 

" Putting proteins that are in saliva in a plant - every time we

swallow, we're swallowing these proteins, " Deeter said. " The only

difference

here that I can see is that it's new. "

 

If Ventria wins FDA approval of its products, he said, the company will

try to expand production, depending on demand.

 

" At peak, 20,000 to 30,000 acres is a possibility if we're very

successful. How much of that is in North America, and ultimately in North

Carolina, is an open question, " he said.

 

Researchers at N.C. State University who are monitoring the project say

they are investigating many of the claims from environmentalists and

the food industry that Ventria's rice crop could migrate, cross-pollinate

with other plants and contaminate the human food supply.

 

" Our interest is in monitoring these very sorts of issues, " said Ron

Heiniger, an associate professor of crop science who works at the

Plymouth research station.

 

" That's what we're concerned about - do we get rice where we didn't get

rice before? " he said. " I'd like the opportunity to know scientifically

what the risks are. "

 

Because no rice is grown commercially in North Carolina, researchers

will know exactly where it came from if it shows up outside the test

plots, Heiniger said.

 

" We'd have the environment to isolate the crop ... and prevent the crop

movement, " he said. " If it is a worst-case scenario, if we get a lot of

movement of rice, then what better place to know that? "

 

Washington County lies along a major bird-migratory route. Bald eagles

soar over the research station and the rice field in summer,

occasionally plucking catfish from ponds at the research station.

Rather than

pollen migration, Heiniger said, the possibility of movement of the rice

crop through waterfowl and other birds that feed on rice seed is

researchers' biggest concern.

 

They also want to study how to keep rice seed from washing away during

major floods like those caused by Hurricane Floyd in 1999.

 

" It'd be a miracle, frankly, to get the pollen to cross-pollinate, " he

said. " There are unknowns, as with anything.... You expect the

unexpected - such as birds. "

 

Deeter and Nandi, though, point to studies that found that once birds

eat rice seeds, they digest them completely.

 

" Once they're digested, they're not viable, " Deeter said. " It seems

plausible, but it's not really supported by the science.... You've got to

use the science, because if you don't use the science, you're just

using emotion. "

 

And despite his own questions about birds, Heiniger sees enormous

potential for farmers who grow Ventria's rice.

 

" They think they could have a huge impact on the health of children in

the Third World, " he said. " These proteins right now come out of

mammalian tissue.... We're talking hundreds of dollars per ounce. If

they can

grow them in rice that can be readily harvested, we're talking cents

per pound. "

 

Genetically modified crops such as Roundup-ready cotton and soybeans,

as well as corn that has been genetically altered for insect resistance,

are already common in North Carolina.

 

So in rural Washington County, residents appear far more worried about

the U.S. Navy's plans to build an outlying landing field (OLF) than

about genetically modified organisms.

 

Local farmers who are accustomed to growing genetically modified corn,

cotton and soybeans appear to welcome Ventria's overtures as a new

opportunity for value-added agriculture.

 

" Several of them have offered - 'You can use my land,' " Heiniger said.

 

Joe Landino, the president of the Blackland Farm Managers Association,

a group of about 50 large-scale farmers in several eastern counties,

says that farmers are excited about growing pharmaceutical rice and think

that Ventria's effort will be a tightly controlled experiment.

 

Organic farmers, in particular, are often wary of genetically modified

crops that could creep into their fields. But the closest organic

farmer to Ventria's test site says he isn't worried.

 

" It's a virtual impossibility, " said Wade Hubers, who grows organic

corn and soybeans in Hyde County, roughly 12 miles from the research

station.

 

Hubers said that the organic corn and soybeans he grows fetch twice the

price of conventional crops, more than making up for the lower yield on

organic crops.

 

But the potential benefits from Ventria's rice far outweigh the risks,

he said.

 

" They're going to have a good buffer around it, " he said. Though there

are some risks, Hubers said, " I look at this rice kind of like a

pharmaceutical company growing it in a greenhouse. It's that kind of

risk. "

 

When rice growers in Missouri opposed Ventria's plans there, " I think

they totally overreacted to it, but that's to North Carolina's benefit, "

Hubers said.

 

Landino said that despite environmentalists' worries, economic forces

will continue to drive demand for drugs and other products that can be

grown in plants.

 

" There's opposition to this biotechnology worldwide. But it's all in

vain, because people are going to be begging for these biotech products, "

he said. " You don't want to shut down something that can be so

productive in the future. "

 

He also noted that although there is no commercial rice grown in North

Carolina, there are a few small plantings for ducks and other

waterfowl.

 

" We've grown rice before down here, " he said. " We know we can grow

rice. This is just a special project that needs a little more intensive

management. "

 

* David Rice can be reached in Raleigh at (919) 833-9056 or at

drice

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see also: Bill would let state rule on banning modified crops

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