Molecular Pharming – the New Battlefront over GM Crops

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19 Jul 2005 13:05:37 -0000

 

Molecular Pharming – the New Battlefront over GM Crops

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ISIS Press Release 19/07/05

 

Molecular Pharming – the New Battlefront over GM Crops

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The biggest battle for democracy in the `heartland of

democracy' is being fought over GM crops and it has shifted

to molecular pharming. Dr. Mae-Wan Ho

 

A fully referenced version of this article is posted on ISIS

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US Department of Agriculture caves in to pharm crops

 

The battlefront over GM crops in the United States and

Europe has shifted to molecular pharming, the use of GM

crops to produce pharmaceuticals. California-based company

Ventria Bioscience has been at the forefront of pharm crops

development, and has planted 75 acres of genetically

engineered rice near Plymouth in Eastern North Carolina [1].

 

Ventria made applications to grow GM rice producing human

lactoferrin and lysozyme, normally produced in human milk,

saliva and tears, in California, Missouri and North

Carolina, stirring up a storm of opposition. Ventria was

driven out of California last year [2], and forced out of

southeast Missouri earlier this year by a last minute

uprising from rice farmers who feared contamination of their

crops and damage to a $100 million industry that depends

heavily on exports [3].

 

The USDA was under pressure to turn down Ventria's request

and others like it. The Grocery Manufacturers of America,

representing $500 billion in annual sales, says that the

government lacks a way to prevent pharmaceutical proteins

from contaminating food. Advocacy groups presented

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns with 30 000 signatures

asking for a ban on the use of food crops to produce

pharmaceuticals. Northwest Missouri State University

President Dean Hubbard insists, however, that his

institution is going ahead with a $40 million agricultural

pharmaceutical centre that would house Ventria and other

companies.

 

On 30 June, the USDA approved Ventria application to grow

its GM rice on 270 acres in North Carolina [3], despite

opposition from scientists working at the state and

federally-operated Rice Quarantine Nursery at the Tidewater

Research Station, just over half a mile from the Ventria

test site. USDA also cleared the way for Ventria to grow its

pharm rice on 200 acres in the middle of Missouri's chief

rice-growing region, even though Ventria has already

withdrawn its permit applications for that site. Anheuser-

Busch, the nation's largest brewer, had indicated it would

refuse to buy any rice from southeastern Missouri's hundreds

of growers if the Ventria pharm rice was planted there. But

USDA dismissed the concerns as " non-scientific " and beyond

its legal purview.

 

Health and environmental hazards ignored

 

As numerous critics have pointed out, it is virtually

impossible to prevent contamination of our food crops either

by cross-pollination or seed spills during transport. The

safety of these and other transgenic proteins for human

beings is highly questionable. Prof. Joe Cummins has

reviewed and submitted evidence on the potential hazards of

lactoferrin and lysozyme [4]. Lactoferrin participates in

the regulation of immune functions and controls pathogens by

binding iron required for bacterial growth. It has been

implicated in asthma with fatal consequences. Lysozyme

breaks down the cell wall material of bacteria, but may

contribute to emphysema. But by far the greater danger is

that the transgenic proteins are only approximations of the

natural protein both in DNA sequence, amino-acid sequence

and patterns of glycosylation (carbohydrate chains added to

the proteins), all of which may make transgenic proteins

allergenic, or the transgenic proteins may trigger diseases

connected with the inability of human cells to break them

down properly.

 

As these proteins both target bacteria, there is a large

question mark over the safety of these proteins to

beneficial bacteria in our gut, which are now known to

promote healthy development in numerous ways from cradle to

grave [5]. In addition, we know nothing concerning the

effects of these proteins on beneficial bacteria and other

organisms in the soil, on insects, amphibians, birds and

mammals that interact with the pharm rice in the fields.

Another aspect virtually ignored in all risk assessment is

the hazards from horizontal transfer of the transgenes to

viral and bacterial pathogens that are everywhere in our

environment [6].

 

Move to pre-empt local regulation

 

The North Carolina legislature is considering " preemption "

bills intended to block local regulation of crop plants,

including biotech crops. The bills, House Bill 671 and

Senate Bill 631, were sponsored by the biotech industry and

are part of a nationwide industry effort to preempt local

governments from regulating any crops, including GM crops.

Similar bills have become law in at least 10 other states in

the US this year, and are clearly targeted at the grassroots

uprising against GM crops that has been gaining momentum

over the past year (Science in Society 2004, 22 From the

Editor http://www.i-sis.org.uk/isisnews.php).

 

Patents on molecular pharming

 

A total of 369 patents are currently listed under " Protein

products for future global good " on MolecularFarming.com

[7], a website that claims to have received its information

from the " FAAR Biotechnology Group Inc., which provides

industry, government, universities and legal counsel with

expert advice, consultation and evaluation of biotechnology

research, business opportunities and intellectual property

matters. "

 

The patents date from 1990 onwards, including methods for

producing antibodies, vaccines, proteins, flavourings,

biodegradable plastics, methods for metabolic interventions

that change the nutrition and composition of seeds, recovery

methods for the proteins produced, for viral systems and

viral vectors used in plants, and methods for molecular

farming by chloroplast transformation.

 

 

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