Fwd: THREE ACTION ALERTS: Biotech Rice, WTO and EPA

[Guest guest]

" News Update from The Campaign "

THREE ACTION ALERTS: Biotech Rice, WTO and EPA

Wed, 31 Mar 2004 06:29:11 -0600

 

News Update From The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods

----

 

Dear News Update Subscribers,

 

This News Update will discuss three important ACTION ALERTS. All three have

short windows of opportunity in which to participate.

 

PHARMACEUTICAL RICE

 

Unfortunately, we have some bad news to report from California. On Monday,

the California Rice Commission voted 6-5 to approve the emergency request of

Ventria Bioscience of Sacramento to plant a crop of genetically engineered

rice that contains pharmaceutical drugs.

 

The California Department of Food and Agriculture now has 10 days to approve

or deny this request.

 

Please send an ACTION ALERT e-mail to both the California Secretary of Food

and Agriculture A.G. Kawamura and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger opposing

the approval. Here is a link to this ACTION ALERT:

http://www.thecampaign.org/alert_calif.php

 

Posted below is the text of the e-mail to Secretary Kawamura. The e-mail to

Governor Schwarzenegger is very similar. You may send the ACTION ALERT

e-mails as written or modify them if you desire.

 

Also posted below are two articles that discuss the approval by the

California Rice Commission and related details.

 

Let's make sure that Secretary Kawamura and Governor Schwarzenegger get

the message that this rice should not be approved for growing in California!

 

U.S. TRADE REPRESENTATIVE & WTO

 

As you are probably aware, last year the United States filed a World Trade

Organization (WTO) case against the European Union (EU) over their

moratorium on importing genetically engineered crops.

 

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is inviting the public to

comment on this case until April 6th.

 

The Center For Food Safety has drafted comments and has kindly made them

available to us to send out as an ACTION ALERT. Here is a link to this

ACTION ALERT:

http://www.thecampaign.org/alert-WTO.php

 

USDA ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT

 

The USDA has a public comment period open on their proposal to do an

Environmental Impact Statement for the introduction of genetically

engineered organisms into the environment. The comment period was scheduled

to close on March 23rd, but the USDA decided to extend the comment period

until April 13th.

 

If you have not already participated in this ACTION ALERT, please do so

before April 13th. You may also want to let your friends know about this

opportunity to send in comments. This ACTION ALERT can be found on our Save

Organic Food web site at:

http://www.saveorganicfood.org/usdaalert.php

 

Thanks for participating in these ACTION ALERTS! Please use the " Tell A

Friend " feature on each ACTION ALERT to inform others.

 

Craig Winters

Executive Director

The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods

 

The Campaign

PO Box 55699

Seattle, WA 98155

Tel: 425-771-4049

Fax: 603-825-5841

E-mail: label

Web Site: http://www.thecampaign.org

 

Mission Statement: " To create a national grassroots consumer campaign for

the purpose of lobbying Congress and the President to pass legislation that

will require the labeling of genetically engineered foods in the United

States. "

 

***************************************************************

 

Text of ACTION ALERT to California Secretary of Food and Agriculture A.G.

Kawamura

 

Say " no " pharmacrops in California

 

Dear Secretary Kawamura,

 

I was appalled to learn that the California Rice Commission recently voted,

by a narrow 6-5 margin, to endorse the first large-scale planting of a

genetically engineered " pharmacrop " in California. If approved, this new

pharmaceutical rice could cause California's agricultural exports to

evaporate -- badly damaging our economy and putting farmers out of work.

 

Sacramento-based Ventria Bioscience is asking for emergency state approval

to grow rice that produces two human proteins that fight infection. The

company wants to begin growing the rice in Californian fields in mid-April.

Normally, such a request would bring with it a 30-day public comment period.

But because of the emergency request, CDFA will take just 10 days to make a

decision on this hugely important issue.

 

Secretary Kawamura, please do not allow pharmaceutical crops to be grown in

California.

 

California's rice crop is worth $372 million annually, and about 43 percent

of it is exported, according to the Los Angeles Times. But the state's

largest rice exporter, Japan, and other countries appear likely to turn away

from Californian rice due to contamination fears.

 

The U.S. food industry is also largely opposed to engineering food crops to

produce pharmaceutical drugs. The Grocery Manufacturers of America and the

National Food Processors Association, normally supporters of genetically

modified food, have expressed deep concerns about the potential for

contamination. The industry suffered losses in the hundreds of millions of

dollars after StarLink corn -- unapproved for human consumption --

contaminated the food supply in 2000.

 

Secretary Kawamura, pharmacrops are, simply put, a bad idea. Please decide

not to allow Ventria Bioscience to grow pharmaceutical rice in California.

 

Sincerely,

 

Your Name Here

 

***************************************************************

 

Biotech Co. to Grow Modified Rice Crop

 

YUBA CITY, Calif. (AP)--A biotech company has won permission to grow the

nation's first large-scale crop of genetically engineered rice designed to

produce drug compounds.

 

Ventria Bioscience of Sacramento plans to grow rice containing human

proteins in Southern California, away from California's 500,000-acre rice

belt. Ventria Chief Executive Scott Deeter said the company expects to grow

120 acres of the modified rice.

 

The protein produced by the rice could be used in oral rehydration

treatments for severe diarrhea.

 

The subcommittee of the California Rice Commission voted 6-5 to approve the

plan Monday, despite warnings from several rice farmers that any

contamination of food rice crops could devastate the $500 million industry.

 

Contamination could happen if trucks spilled the modified rice, or if birds

carried it to other fields. Critics, including local rice farmers and state

and national groups that oppose genetically modified crops, told the panel

Monday that allowing the altered crop could undermine the progress

California rice has made in overseas markets, especially in Japan.

 

Rice grower Michael Boeger, who voted against the plan, said it's ``not

worth the risk at this time.''

 

The company has crafted strict growing, storing and handling protocols,

Deeter said, including using dedicated equipment and keeping detailed logs

and allowing third-party inspections.

 

The California Department of Food and Agriculture has 10 days to approve or

reject the plan. If the department approves it, the state Office of

Administrative law will accept written public comment.

 

 

AP-NY-03-30-04 1812EST

 

***************************************************************

 

Waiter, There's a Drug in My Rice

 

By Kristen Philipkoski

Wired News

Mar. 30, 2004

 

The California Rice Commission on Monday approved a biotech company's

request to grow the state's first crop genetically modified to contain a

drug.

 

The rice commission narrowly passed the proposal by a 6-5 vote. The

commission advises the California Department of Food and Agriculture, which

has the final decision on whether Ventria Bioscience of Sacramento can plant

its pharmaceutical crop. If the agency approves, the company could be the

first to commercialize such a product.

 

The rice is genetically modified to produce two human proteins that fight

infection: lactoferrin and lysozyme. Some rice growers and environmental

groups oppose the project, saying the rice could contaminate regular crops

and damage the export market.

 

" Consumers in Japan will not accept (genetically engineered) contamination

of any crop, " said rice farmer Greg Massa in a statement. " The decision to

approve Ventria's guidelines is bad news for farmers and California's rice

industry. "

 

But Ventria's proteins could be a big step forward in preventing infections

in infants. Lactoferrin and lysozyme are present in breast milk, and protect

babies from ear infections, diarrhea, respiratory tract infections,

meningitis and other infections. But these protective proteins disappear

when a baby stops breast feeding or doesn't receive breast milk at all.

Researchers at Ventria were first to develop a human form of these proteins

that could become therapies.

 

Ventria believes growing rice that produce proteins like lactoferrin and

lysozyme in rice could be a cheaper way to develop drugs than building and

maintaining expensive manufacturing plants.

 

But environmental groups and consumer advocates sued the U.S. Department of

Agriculture in November 2003 for inadequate oversight of pharmaceutical

crops. Companies like Dow Chemical and Monsanto are experimenting with corn,

soybeans, tobacco, rice and sugar crops to find a cheaper way to

mass-produce drugs.

 

Opponents say growing the crops in open fields endangers organic and

conventional crops, as well as human health. And it's not just an issue

environmentalists and consumer advocates are worried about, said Paul

Achitoff, managing attorney of Earthjustice in Hawaii.

 

" Even food-processing corporations are very upset about this as well,

because they know all you need is one shipment of corn flakes that has a

contraceptive in it and there's a real problem, obviously, " Achitoff said.

 

In 2002, federal officials ordered ProdiGene, of College Station, Texas, to

burn 155 acres of corn and 500,000 bushels of soybeans because the crops had

been contaminated by the company's pharmaceutical corn, which had been

genetically engineered to produce an experimental diarrhea vaccine for pigs.

 

" Contamination is inevitable under this protocol, and the CRC did not act in

the best interests of California rice farmers or consumers, " said Renata

Brillinger of Californians for GE-Free Agriculture.

 

" Instead of the normal 30-day public comment period that would exist with

any other regulation, this fast tracking allows a 10-day review by CDFA, "

said Rebecca Spector of the Center for Food Safety. " The CDFA level is

really the time where we depend on the public to be able to submit comments.

We hope that the secretary of agriculture will review the proposal under the

normal public review process. "

 

" This is kind of a big mess, " she said. " We requested that they wait to see

how FDA and USDA are going to regulate this before approving this planting

protocol. Ventria is taking advantage of this regulatory vacuum and in the

meantime has gone through the regulatory bodies in California. "

 

Ventria executives were not immediately available for comment.

 

Ventria's proposal restricts the production to counties that do not

currently grow rice: San Luis Obispo, Kern, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los

Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside, San Diego and Imperial.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Small Business $15K Web Design Giveaway - Enter today