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[SANET-MG] Pharm rice in Missouri



There is still time to add your comments on the USDA/APHIS docket on the
Ventura rice proposal.The outpouring of comments has been greater than
ever. However, industry are also replying in force so event though the
majority of comments oppose the proposal biotech,industry also launched
a strong reply supporting the Ventura proposal.
http://docket.epa.gov/edkfed/index.jsp
see APHIS dockets that are currently open for public comment
Natural Newswire March 17,2005
Pharmaceutical Rice in Missouri Threatens Food Supply
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

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

COLUMBIA, Mo. / WASHINGTON —(NATURALWIRE)— 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 state’s 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 Ventria’s 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 Ventria’s 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 company’s 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.

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