| March 6, 2007 |  |
Genetically Engineered Rice Contamination Renews Calls for Caution
Scientist Group Urges Ban on Outdoor Pharmaceutical Food Crops
WASHINGTON (March 6, 2007)–Yesterday's Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibition on planting a type of long-grain rice because of contamination is another indication that the agency is failing to protect the U.S. food and seed supply, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).
The long-grain rice, Clearfield CL131, which is produced by BASF of Germany and marketed by Horizon Ag of Memphis, Tennessee, is likely contaminated by a gene-altered rice not approved in the United States. (See full USDA announcement)
"This latest incident of contamination–the third in the last six months–underscores the USDA's inability to keep unwanted and potentially harmful modified genes out of our food supply," said Karen Perry Stillerman, a senior UCS food analyst.
Coincidentally, last week USDA announced that it is poised to approve the first commercial production of a food crop--again, rice--engineered with human genes. Ventria Bioscience, the biotechnology company behind the project, requested approval to plant as much as 3,200 acres of pharmaceutical-producing rice in Kansas this year. If approved, the project would represent the nation's largest engineered drug-producing food crop. Ventria plans to market the human-derived proteins extracted from engineered rice seeds as supplements for yogurt, sports drinks and granola bars, and as a treatment for diarrhea.
Since 1996, Ventria has been field-testing rice engineered with human genes to produce three pharmaceutical proteins–lactoferrin, lysozyme and serum albumin. The company's previous field trials in California and Missouri were cut short by protests from farmers, consumers, and food companies concerned that the engineered crops would contaminate rice destined for the food supply.
Pharmaceutical (pharma) crops such as Ventria's rice pose a threat to our food supply and public health because the proteins they contain are intended to be biologically active in humans and may be harmful if eaten accidentally. When such compounds are produced in food crops grown outdoors, they are almost certain to contaminate the food supply. The contamination routes are numerous, including cross-pollination and seed mixing during commercial growing and seed production.
Seed mixing can occur even among different types of crops. In 2002, a company called ProdiGene allowed corn containing a pig vaccine to mix with thousands of bushels of soybeans in a Nebraska grain elevator. The company's pharma corn also may have cross-pollinated feed corn in Iowa that year. In both cases, contamination of the general food supply was narrowly averted. In tornado-prone Kansas, high winds could scatter pharma rice seeds or plants into neighboring corn, soybean, or winter wheat fields. (Geary County, Kansas, where Ventria has proposed growing its rice, has experienced five tornados since 2001.)
"Recent experience shows that the USDA and pharma crop companies cannot be trusted to prevent food contamination," said UCS's Stillerman. She pointed out that a 2005 report by the USDA's internal auditor found that the agency's oversight of pharma crops was lax. In some cases, regulators didn't know where pharma crops were grown or stored. Several recent court decisions also have lambasted the agency's risk assessment and regulatory systems for pharma and other genetically engineered crops.
"Growing pharmaceutical food crops outdoors is not worth the risk it poses to public health and the financial health of farmers and food companies," Stillerman said. "Because it is virtually impossible to produce pharma food crops outdoors safely, even if very strong regulatory systems were put in place, we are calling for a USDA ban." The National Farmer's Union, which represents family farmers nationwide, and the recently merged Grocery Manufacturers Association and Food Products Association oppose the practice of using food crops as pharma crops.
For more information, go to www.protectourfood.org.
The Union of Concerned Scientists puts rigorous, independent science to work to solve our planet's most pressing problems. Joining with citizens across the country, we combine technical analysis and effective advocacy to create innovative, practical solutions for a healthy, safe, and sustainable future.
