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ISIS Press Release 19/07/05
Molecular Pharming – the New Battlefront over GM Crops
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
members’ website. Details here
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chief rice-growing region, even though Ventria has already withdrawn its permit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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