GMW: Pharma crops in Kent/Keep pharmaceuticals out of French Cheese

[Guest guest]

GMW: Pharma crops in Kent/Keep pharmaceuticals out of French

Cheese

" GM WATCH " <info

Tue, 4 Jul 2006 23:13:54 +0100

 

 

 

 

 

GM WATCH daily

http://www.gmwatch.org

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1.Pharma crops in Kent

2.ACTION ALERT: Keep pharmaceuticals out of French Cheese

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1.How a tobacco farm in Kent could provide a life-saving drug for

millions

Ian Sample, science correspondent

The Guardian, July 4, 2006

http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1812237,00.html

 

*Genetic tweak allows HIV drug to be harvested

*Environmentalists fear cross-contamination

 

In the perfectly controlled atmosphere of a brick-proof, hermetically

sealed greenhouse deep in the Kent countryside, a fresh crop of tobacco

plants is beginning to flourish.

 

There is nothing unusual about the plants' appearance, but they are

nonetheless extraordinary. A genetic tweak ensures that every cell of

every plant churns out tiny quantities of an experimental drug. When

harvested, they could bring cheap medicine to millions.

 

Scientists say the GBP8m project could provide a powerful weapon

against Africa's HIV pandemic.

 

The process is called pharming, and to many it is both the future of GM

crops, and the future of the drugs industry. If the tobacco plants in

Kent are a success, each one will provide 20 doses of an anti-HIV drug -

enough to protect a woman from infection for up to three months.

 

Pharming is a marriage of high and low technology that capitalises on

the advantages of both. Instead of needing a $500m drug manufacturing

facility that takes five years to pass regulatory approval, pharming uses

simple crop-growing practices that have been honed over centuries.

 

Like other GM technologies, pharming is not without its risks. Pressure

groups such as Friends of the Earth fear that if food crops such as

maize or tomatoes are adopted to grow drugs in some regions, there is a

risk of their contaminating maize or tomato crops elsewhere that are

intended for consumption. Clare Oxborrow, FoE's GM campaigner, said: " We

wouldn't want to see this done in food crops and certainly not in field

trials. "

 

Professor Julian Ma, who leads the tobacco plant project at the Centre

for Infection at St George's hospital in south London, acknowledges

that the plants, and more importantly their pollen, have to be well

contained. It is why the plants are being grown in GBP35,000

high-security

Unigro greenhouses which normally house experiments on plant viruses.

Designed to withstand a lobbed brick, the greenhouses are twin-skinned

plastic. Rupture either skin and the entire greenhouse is immediately

flooded with formaldehyde, keeping everything inside.

 

At his labs at St George's, Prof Ma and his PhD student Amy Sexton have

been producing the genetically modified tobacco plants and perfecting

techniques to boost the amount of drug each plant makes. They take a

common tobacco plant, Nicotiana tabacum, and punch small holes from the

leaves. The circles of leaf are placed in a petri dish and then squirted

with a liquid containing a genetically modified bacterium.

 

When the bacterium infects a plant leaf, it inserts some of its own

genes into the plant's DNA, in effect hijacking its cellular machinery,

and fooling the plant to produce new proteins.

 

In the wild these proteins cause tumours that kill the plant. But in

the laboratory, the bacterium is made safe and doctored with different

genes that fool the plant into making cyanovirin-N.

 

The researchers believe that cyanovirin-N could become a powerful new

weapon in the fight against HIV, as it prevents the virus from infecting

human cells. They are keen to make a microbicide cream for women in

Africa and other developing countries where many have little or no

control

over their partner's use of a condom. The evidence so far is that a

microbicide cream could dramatically cut down the spread of HIV through

sexual activity. Experiments with rhesus macaques, which have similar

reproductive physiology, have shown the microbicide protected 15 out

of 18

monkeys from infection with a variant of the HIV virus, while all of

eight control animals were infected.

 

To produce enough cyanovirin to make any significant impact on the HIV

pandemic will take a lot of plants. The team calculates that 5,000kg of

cyanovirin would be needed for 10 million women to have two doses a

week - a scale of production that is far beyond the capabilities of

conventional drug manufacturing. Each plant grows to a final weight of

around

1kg.

 

Already the team is working on ways to maximise the amount of drug it

can extract from a plant. Instead of growing the plants in soil, Prof Ma

is experimenting with hydroponics, where the plants are grown in a

nutrient-rich liquid. " The beauty of this is that the roots of the plant

can be made to secrete the cyanovirin-N into the water they are grown in.

That's a much simpler and cheaper way to extract the drug than having

to grind the plants up, " he says. " You can think of it as molecular

milking. "

 

If the plants continue to grow well in Kent - at the home of the East

Malling Research facility - Prof Ma hopes to have enough drug to conduct

human clinical trials of the microbicide within three years.

 

" After the GM food debate, everyone was wondering, is this technology

going to fly? We have here a potentially important intervention against

HIV, but one that needs enormous production capacity if it's going to

make an impact globally on health. GM plants could provide the

solution, " says Prof Ma.

 

FAQ: Pharming HIV treatments

 

How many people have HIV?

 

Globally, 40m people are believed to be infected with HIV, 25m of whom

live in sub-Saharan Africa. More than 40,000 people in the UK are

receiving treatment for HIV. However, it is estimated a further 20,000

are

infected but do not know it.

 

What treatments are there?

 

In developed countries, expensive cocktails of drugs are used to stop

HIV becoming Aids. The treatment is scarce in countries most in need of

it.Condoms are the most effective barriers to sexually transmitted HIV,

but in many countries, women may not be able to insist on their use.

 

So far, none of the 90 or so experimental vaccines against HIV have

proved successful, but there are high hopes for microbicide creams, which

women can apply before sex. Trials of anti-HIV creams are continuing in

South Africa and Uganda.

 

How does cyanovirin-N work?

 

To infect a human immune cell, the HIV virus has to latch on to the

cell in a specific way. A protein on the HIV virus surface locks on to

what is called the CD4 receptor on the immune cell, and from there, the

virus can infect the cell. Cyanovirin works by latching on to the HIV

virus, making it unable to stick to human cells.

 

What are the risks of pharming?

 

Tight controls are needed to ensure that GM crops do not contaminate

natural plants. Growing in airtight greenhouses prevents pollen escaping,

but an alternative is to grow GM crops that have no relatives they can

pollinate. Scientists are also working on infertile GM crops that do

not flower.

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2.ACTION ALERT: Keep pharmaceuticals out of French Cheese

 

PLEASE CIRCULATE TO FELLOW GM AND FOOD CAMPAIGNERS

 

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The French Government has just approved 17 new GM test sites -

including maize and tobacco genetically engineered to produce

pharmaceuticals.

These would be grown outdoors at secret locations and could result in

unidentified pharmaceuticals in food, feed and the produce of animals

eating feed - that then gets sold throught Europe. International protests

could stop these trials. Here's how.....

 

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1. Model letter to UK Supermarkets and Cheese Importers

2. People and organisations to lobby...

3. GM Freeze press release about the trials

 

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MODEL LETTER TO UK SUPERMARKETS AND CHEESE IMPORTERS

(it would be best to adapt this or to put it's message into your own

words.

Trade representatives of the French Government listed below are also

worth contacting):

 

Dear Sirs,

 

RE: YOUR FRENCH CHEESES AND SECRET TRIALS OF BIOPHARMACEUTICAL MAIZE

 

I am very concerned about the possible contamination of your company's

selection of French cheeses with GM products if field trials go ahead

in France of GM biopharmaceutical maize. The pharmaceuticals from these

secret trials crops could get into cheeses via the feed of cows as a

result of cross pollination of a crop with one destined for animal feed.

 

If the trial proceeds as planned, I will seriously consider stopping

purchasing French cheese from you store.

 

If such contamination occurs resulting in widespread product withdrawal

there is currently no legislation to compensate you for loss of sales.

I therefore urge you to communicate your concern about these

irresponsible crop trials to the French Embassy, Chamber of Commerce

and dairy

industry.

 

There are a number of reasons why I believe such trials are

irresponsible:

 

1. Biopharmaceutical crops pose completely new health threats because

they create their own pharmaceutical drugs and vaccines - and, like

earlier kinds of GM crops they have not undergone long-term safety

testing

required by the pharmaceutical approvals process..

 

2. These crops are being tested irresponsibly outdoors, rather than in

greenhouses, increasing the risk that they will contaminate food and

feed crops.

 

3. The pharmaceuticals are being produced in a food crop (maize)

instead of non-food crops, which means that they can cross pollinate

with and

contaminate food crops of the same species.

 

4. They are being grown in secret location, which means that

neighbouring farmers do not know whether they are at risk of cross

pollination.

 

5. In the EU there are, as yet, no liability, co-existence, or

compensation laws in place to protect conventional or organic farmers

or the

food industry.

 

6. There are currently no tests to identify foods contaminated with

biopharmaceuticals and the Port Health Authorities are taking very little

action to prevent GM contaminated produce from getting in to the UK.

 

In short, these biopharmaceutical trials are a potential health threat

to your customers and a financial threat to you and your suppliers. I

urge you to join the objections from across the EU to the French

government and request that they

terminate the trails pending a full debate on whether such crops are

sustainable, the use of food crops for biopharmaceutical production and

on secrecy about the locations of GM trial sites.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

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People and organisations to lobby...

 

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UK SUPERMARKET HQs

 

[Visit their website to email via the links below]

 

Asda

T: 0500 100 055

Customer Relations, Asda House, Southbank,

Great Wilson Street, Leeds LS11 5AD

E: via www.asda.com

 

Booths

T: 01772 251 701

Buying director, 4 Fishergate, Preston PR1 3LJ

E: via www.burgundyblue.co.uk/booths_feedback.html

 

Co-op

T: 0800 317 827

Customer Relations, The Co-operative Group,

FREEPOST MR 9473, Manchester M4 8BA

E: customer.relations

 

Iceland Foods

T: 01244 842 842

Iceland Foods plc, Second Avenue,

Deeside Industrial Estate, Flintshire CH5 2NW

E: via www.iceland.co.uk

 

Marks & Spencer

T: 0845 302 1234

Marks & Spencer Retail Customer Service,

Chester Business Park, Kings Meadow,

Wrexham Road, Chester CH4 9GA

E: retailcustomer.services

 

Morrisons

T: 01274 356 000

Customer Services Department,

Parry Lane,

Bradford BD4 8TD

 

Safeway

See details for Morrisons

 

Sainsbury's

T: 0800 636 262

Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd, 33 Holborn,

London EC1N 2HT

Email via www.sainsburys.co.uk

 

Somerfield

T: 0117 935 6669

Customer Services, Somerfield Stores Ltd,

Somerfield House, Whitchurch Lane,

Bristol BS14 OTJ

E: customer.service

 

Tesco

T: 0800 505555

Customer Services, Tesco, PO Box 73,

Baird Avenue, Dundee DD1 9NF

E: customer.service

 

Waitrose

T: 0800 188 884

Customer Services, Waitrose Ltd,

Doncastle Road, Southern Industrial Estate,

Bracknell, Berkshire RG12 8YA

E: customer_service

 

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Franco-British Chamber of Commerce & Industry

31, rue Boissy d'Anglas

75008 Paris

Tel : (33) 1 53 30 81 30

Fax : (33) 1 53 30 81 35

 

email them via the form at:

www.francobritishchambers.com/contact.asp

 

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MISSION ECONOMIQUE is the economic and commercial section of the French

Embassy. The staff in their agriculture and food section are:

 

Laurène BOURGES

laurene.bourges

Chargée de mission agricole

Fruits et légumes frais et transformés, horticulture et produits

issus de

l'agriculture biologique

+44 (0)20 73 16 41 63

 

Caroline COGNAULT

caroline.cognault

Chef de secteur

Attaché agricole adjointe en charge des questions vétérinaires

+44 (0)20 73 16 41 52

 

Bernard FRANCOIS

bernard.francois

Chef de secteur

Biens de consommation, distribution, santé

+44 (0)20 73 16 41 64

 

Olivier PROTHON

olivier.prothon

Chargé de mission agricole

Chef de la mission agricole d'Ubifrance / Vins & Spiritueux - Autres

boissons

- Distribution.

+44 (0)20 73 16 41 62

 

Michelle BONNET

michelle.bonnet

Assistante sectorielle

Assistante de l'attaché agricole, veille régalienne

+44 (0)20 73 16 41 51

 

Joelle COX

joelle.cox

Assistante sectorielle

Bois, matière première et transformation, BTP

+44 (0)20 73 16 41 47

 

Amélie GALATRY

amelie.galatry

Assistante sectorielle

Viandes, Charcuteries et Alimentation animale, Oeufs, Produits

laitiers,

Grande distribution alimentaire

+44 (0)20 73 16 41 53

 

Pandora MISTRY

pandora.mistry

Assistante sectorielle

Boissons

+44 (0)20 73 16 41 61

 

Helen WHATMORE

helen.whatmore

Assistante sectorielle

Produits alimentaires transformés (Epicerie Sèche, Spécialités

alimentaires

diverses, plats préparés) Filière pêche et aquaculture

+44 (0)20 73 16 41 33

 

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PRESS RELEASE

 

IMMEDIATE RELEASE 13th June 2006

 

Freeze Condemns France for GM Pharming Test Sites

 

 

GM Freeze has condemned the French Government for licensing two sites

for

 crops genetically engineered to produce pharmaceuticals [1] ahead of

 legislation to deal with crop contamination and liability.

 

Two out of 17 new GM test sites announced by the French Minister of

 agriculture, Mr Dominique Bussereau, include maize [2] and tobacco

[3]

 genetically engineered to produce pharmaceuticals.

 

Pharmaceutical crops or " pharming " are second generation GM crops

designed to

 produce drugs, vaccines and other medical products.  They have

already been

 grown experimentally in the USA where problems of contamination have

already

 occurred.

 

 

 

 

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