Biopharm Corn Spreads Fear in Colorado

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Biopharm Corn Spreads Fear in Colorado"If the process is so damn safe, why is it that this company israising this crop 3,000 miles away from home?" Wuerthele said. "It'slike hazardous waste. You go where the least regulations are, dump itthere and run."Biopharming reaps fearBy Diane CarmanDenver Post, September 28, 2003The leaves are just beginning to turn in Phillips County, but any farmerknows that means spring is just around the corner. And next springlikely will be a bitter one on the Eastern Plains.A mysterious farmer at a secret location somewhere in northeasternColorado is expected to plant a corn crop that must never be eaten byhumans or animals, must never come in contact with other crops, and isso volatile, a 1-mile buffer must surround it to prevent pollen fromcontaminating other crops.The biopharm corn has been genetically engineered to produce lipase, afat-digesting enzyme used in the treatment of cystic fibrosis and otherconditions. Meristem Therapeutics of France won approval from the stateDepartment of Agriculture to contract with a Colorado farmer to producethe crop.Biopharming is a cheap means for producing substances such as lipasethat traditionally have been extracted from animals or formulated inlaboratories.But though the permit has been approved, it hasn't put an end to thecontroversy. While the industry lobbies for support, farmers andenvironmentalists have mobilized to protest the pharm-corn farm."There are still too many unanswered questions," said John Stencel,president of the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union.Stencel returned last week from a trip to Clermont-Ferrand, France, tovisit the Meristem labs. The Colorado Corn Growers Association paid tosend Stencel, three state legislators and others on the six-day trip.The group talked to scientists, reviewed research data and toured aMeristem farm.State Rep. Ray Rose, R-Montrose, said he went to France "skeptical ofthe entire situation," but the trip changed his mind. "I thought, 'Yes,we can do it safely.'"There were apples, grapes and other crops growing right around it" withno adverse effects, Rose said. "There's a lot of fear out there, butthose fears are not based on any scientific platform. They're pureemotion."Suzanne Wuerthele, a toxicologist who chairs the genetic engineeringcommittee for the Sierra Club, disagreed. She said the risks arepotentially devastating for farmers, consumers and the environment. Andshe criticized the permit process in Colorado."It was conducted in secret and considered in a very ignorant fashion,"she said. The Department of Agriculture "handpicked" friends ofbiotechnology to review the application and withheld criticalinformation. "They decided the public's right to know was superseded bythe company's desire for confidentiality."Wuerthele said the male sterile corn used on the biopharms stillproduces up to 10 percent of the pollen typically released by fertilecorn plants, and that winds easily could carry the pollen to nearby foodcornfields.Furthermore, the effect on wildlife and humans who eat the pharmcorn is unknown - even Meristem officials emphasize the need forsegregating the crop - and the risk to farmers who inhale thelipase-laced dust during the harvest is great, Wuerthele said."Alveoli in the lungs are damaged by enzymes like lipase," she said.Producing pharmaceutical compounds in food crops is "a really,really bad idea. The chance of it contaminating the food supply isgreat," Wuerthele said. "And once that happens, it will destroy ourexport markets."Stencel is equally concerned about the impact on the commoditiesmarket. "Our exports are still off 30 to 40 percent from what they weresix years ago," primarily because many foreign countries refuse to buygenetically modified foods, he said.And while "a dozen, maybe two dozen" farmers in the state could beenriched by the production of the lucrative biopharm crops, "thousandsof other farmers could be hurt."But since Meristem already has the go-ahead, Stencel and otherfarmers are exploring the question of liability in the event that foodcrops are contaminated, as they were in biopharm mistakes in Iowa andNebraska in 2002.Some farmers are insisting on triple damages for any crops thatmust be destroyed because of biopharm contamination.It's not greed, Stencel said. "You may not be able to grow a cropagain on the same soil for a year or two. And who will pay? The researchcompany? The farmer? We need to know the answer."Rose said protocols are in place that reduce the dangers frombiopharming, and that the benefits to society from the production ofcheaper pharmaceuticals outweigh the risks.But if that's the case, somebody needs to tell the food industry.Among the most vocal skeptics of biopharming are food giants Frito-Lay,Campbell Soup and Kraft Foods.When StarLink genetically modified corn found its way into tacoshells and other foods in 2000, it cost the industry more than $1billion in recall expenses, lawsuits and lost sales."If the process is so damn safe, why is it that this company israising this crop 3,000 miles away from home?" Wuerthele said. "It'slike hazardous waste. You go where the least regulations are, dump itthere and run."http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~1659809,00.html