Biopharm Rice in Missouri Stirring Up Controversy

Posted 3/21/05

Comment by Professor Joe Cummins jcummins@UWO.CA The article below tells a part of the story. The large "test" sites being planed for Missouri are large enough for commercial production and US regulations allow commercial production on "test" sites.

The article seems unaware that the pharmaceuticals can be produced in liquid plant culture so there is no reason to produce the human gene products outside of laboratory culture.

Lawrence Journal World
Missouri making unpopular first venture into biopharming By Margaret Stafford - Associated Press Writer Monday, March 14, 2005 Maryville, Mo. < When Ventria Biosciences arrived in northwest Missouri, the company brought with it a hope for a regional economic boost spurred by expected medical breakthroughs.

That's one argument. The other insists that Ventria's arrival from California brought nothing more than the potential for lasting damage to the state's farmers.

There is no argument, however, that Ventria's decision to relocate has brought the debate over biopharming -- the practice of genetically modifying crops to grow medications -- to Missouri.

"I'm totally confident this is the future," said Dean Hubbard, the president of Northwest Missouri State University, who invited Ventria to his community about 85 miles north of Kansas City. "It is beyond the adventure stage. It's been proven you can do it. Our return in the long-term will be great. It will far exceed our investment."

Last November, Northwest Missouri and Ventria agreed to make the company the anchor of a proposed Center of Excellence for plant-made pharmaceuticals on the university's campus in Maryville. Hubbard believes the industry will reap millions in revenue, reduce the cost of medicines and provide Northwest students with opportunities in biotechnology fields.

The university provided $5 million in privately raised venture capital and will build an on-campus biotechnology center with space set aside for Ventria. In return, Ventria is moving its headquarters, about 13 employees and processing functions from Sacramento, Calif., to Maryville. It also will grow 70 percent of its U.S. field production in Missouri.

Genetic enhancements In California, Ventria planted small plots of rice genetically enhanced with synthetic human genes to produce the proteins lactoferrin and lysozyme, which the company hopes to harvest and refine for use in medicines to fight diarrhea and dehydration. The proteins occur naturally in human tears, saliva and breast milk, but it can cost up to $30,000 a gram to extract them.

It's the presence of the human genes in the rice that worries farmers, especially in southwest Missouri, the heart of the state's rice
industry. They're concerned the Ventria crops could cross-pollinate with other food crops, introducing the foreign genes into the regular food chain. Even if such cross-pollination never occurs, fear that it might could lead buyers to avoid food crops grown nearby.

"These people say they can contain it," said Sonny Martin, a Butler County rice farmer who is chairman of the Missouri Rice and Merchandising Council. "But they are not going to net this rice to keep birds out. They can't contain the water runoff here."

Ventria faced the same arguments in California last year when it wanted to increase its acres of open-field rice production. The state's rice growers were concerned the genetically modified rice would hurt their $500 million business, and others raised concerns about Ventria's efforts to prevent cross-pollinization.

Scott Deeter, president of Ventria, said the company is not moving to Missouri to escape the controversy. He said Missouri's abundant land and water, and Northwest Missouri State's efforts to build around Ventria, drew the company to the Midwest.

"We've been growing rice in California for six years without any impacts on the California rice industry," Deeter said. "We have a very highly regulated process to make sure production is done in a safe manner."

The company has applied to grow up to 200 acres of genetically modified rice in Scott, Cape Girardeau and Mississippi counties in southeast Missouri. Eventually, Ventria hopes to grow thousands of acres of the modified rice, Deeter said.

Unpopular move Nearly all of Missouri's $100 million rice crop is grown in southeast Missouri. Farmers there have met with Ventria officials and Missouri Secretary of Agriculture Fred Ferrell, presenting a petition with 175 signatures opposing the plans.

"I'd say 95-97 percent of the farmers here are against this," Martin said. "Those who are for it are looking to fill their pockets off it."

Martin said the farmers are planning some efforts to, at minimum, put off the Ventria planting until next year, but he declined to elaborate. Genetically modified crops are regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, with state governments allowed to review safety procedures and suggest more stringent regulation of the companies before a permit is issued.

The farmers have the support of advocacy groups such as Friends of the Earth, as well as trade organizations such as the National Food Processors Assn. and the Grocery Manufacturers of America, which have opposed genetically modified food crops.

The Union of Concerned Scientists in December called on the Agriculture Department to ban open-field growing of food crops engineered to produce pharmaceutical and industrial products. The group acknowledges the potential benefits of plant-grown pharmaceuticals, but suggests companies use nonfood crops such as tobacco, or grown them in greenhouses.

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http://www.naturalnewswire.com/2005/03/pharmaceutical_.html
Pharmaceutical Rice in Missouri Threatens Food Supply

Federal and State Officials Urged to Stop Proposed Field Trials to Protect Farmers, Consumers and the Missouri Rice & Food Industries

COLUMBIA, Mo. / WASHINGTON

Field trials of genetically engineered, pharmaceutical-producing rice would result in contamination of the food supply and should not be allowed to proceed in Missouri, consumer and environmental groups told federal and state authorities today. Pending state and federal approval, up to 204.5 acres of pharmaceutical rice could be grown this year in rice-growing southeast Missouri, the largest planting of a pharmaceutical crop yet attempted anywhere in the world. The pharmaceutical rice was developed by Ventria Bioscience.

"Missouri farmers and consumers should not have to worry about drugs contaminating their crops and food," said Bill Freese, research analyst with Friends of the Earth and an expert on biopharming, "but that's just what will happen if Ventria is allowed to start growing its pharmaceutical rice in the state. We urge federal and Missouri state authorities to just say no to this foolish experimentation with drug-producing rice."

Biopharming is an experimental technique in which crops like rice, barley and tobacco are genetically engineered with human or animal genes to become biofactories for the production of experimental pharmaceuticals. Yet not a single plant-made pharmaceutical has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

"We must not allow Missouri to become a testing ground for an unproven technology that threatens farmers, consumers and the state¹s food industry," said Ellen Treimel, field organizer with the Missouri Public Interest Research Group.

In a 13-page briefing paper sent to federal and Missouri state officials, the groups describe the many ways pharmaceutical rice could be spread, including by rice-eating birds, floods, cross-pollination with other rice or related weeds, rice grains transported in farm machinery, or human error in cultivation, shipping and disposal.

"Just a few years ago, pharmaceutical corn got mixed into soybeans and regular corn," said Joseph Mendelson, Legal Director of the Center for Food Safety. "The contaminated food had to be destroyed, costing millions of dollars. The same thing could happen with Ventria¹s rice."

"The Food and Drug Administration has not approved these rice-grown pharmaceuticals, and it may never do so," added Freese. "It is irresponsible of the FDA to allow untested, unapproved pharmaceuticals to be grown in food crops when the risks of contamination are so great."

The briefing paper cites scientific studies to highlight the potential human health impacts of Ventria¹s pharmaceuticals, which are artificial versions of human milk and blood proteins. These risks include aggravation of bacterial infections, allergic reactions and autoimmune disorders.

The groups also dispute claims by industry representatives that biopharming will be an economic success for rice farmers or that new jobs will be created in Missouri.

"The claims they're making about new jobs and benefits for Missouri farmers from biopharming are pure speculation," said Treimel. "The truth is, neither Ventria nor any other biopharm company has gotten a single plant-made pharmaceutical approved by the FDA. No products, no jobs."

Ventria Bioscience is presently based in California. In 2004, federal and California authorities quashed the company¹s bid to grow 120 acres of pharmaceutical rice in Southern California, partly because of a prior violation of field trial permit conditions. In November 2004, the company announced plans to set up shop at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville. The move was prompted by opposition to pharmaceutical rice in California, a $30 million subsidy package from the state of Missouri, and a laxer regulatory environment in the state.

CONTACTS:

Bill Freese, Friends of the Earth, 573-447-1588, billfreese@prodigy.net Ellen Treimel, Missouri Public Interest Research Group, 314-454-9560, etreimel@mopirg.org Craig Culp, Center for Food Safety, 202-547-9359 or 301-509-0925, cculp@icta.org March 17, 2005 | Permalink

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This GMO news service is underwritten by a generous grant from the Newman's Own Foundation, edited by Thomas Wittman and is a production of the Ecological Farming Association www.eco-farm.org <http://www.eco-farm.org/
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This GMO news service is underwritten by a generous grant from the Newman's Own Foundation, edited by Thomas Wittman and is a production of the Ecological Farming Association www.eco-farm.org <http://www.eco-farm.org/
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