just wondering, will biopharm corn come with tamper proof seals?

[Guest guest]

Bio-pharming: Is cure worse than diseases?

By Diane Carman

Denver Post Columnist

 

Thursday, May 01, 2003 - It's a deal with the devil, and you probably

don't even know that you've made it. Wheat, soybeans, canola, corn and

many other food crops are being genetically engineered to improve

productivity and increase profits.

 

It's no big deal, proponents say. For eons, plant hybrids have been

developed to improve taste, appearance and yields. Genetic modification

simply speeds that hybridization process.

 

Sure, people around the world call it " Frankenfood " and react with

revulsion, but the folks at Missouri agriculture giant Monsanto and Dow

Chemical say we shouldn't worry, it's safe.

 

The most common gene-tweaked plants are grown under the trademark

" Roundup Ready. " This means their DNA has been altered so that they can

be treated with Monsanto's best-selling weedkiller, Roundup, and not

die.

 

They've become ubiquitous, said Peter Crowell of the Uncompahgre Valley

Association in Montrose. " You and I are probably Roundup Ready by now. "

 

But Roundup Ready is just the beginning. The brave new world of genetic

engineering goes way beyond manipulating crops to make them bigger,

hardier or resistant to disease.

 

The next big thing is bio-pharming. And it may be coming soon to a

cornfield near you.

 

Two companies, ProdiGene Inc. of Texas and Maristem Therapeutics of

France, have approached Colorado farmers about growing genetically

altered corn to produce proteins and enzymes for use in the production

of insulin and other pharmaceuticals.

 

Jim Miller, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Agriculture, said

he expects to receive an application " before too long " from Maristem to

produce the pharmaceutical corn crop in eastern Colorado.

 

The exact location is a secret.

 

While the likelihood of the bio-pharm crop getting in the ground in time

for the 2003 growing season is diminishing with each day, the anxiety of

farmers across the state has spread like ragweed pollen on a stiff wind.

 

Bio-pharming threatens the livelihood of every farmer, said David

Dechant, who raises corn, wheat, alfalfa and barley near Hudson. " Our

export customers as well as food processors like Kraft and others have

said they have zero tolerance for the drug corn. One kernel in an entire

shipment will disrupt the export supply and cripple the industry, " he

said.

 

Doug Wiley, an organic farmer 20 miles east of Pueblo, agreed.

 

" The idea that they can contain this is ridiculous, " he said. " Corn is

very promiscuous. Gene drift will happen. I guarantee it. "

 

USDA regulations require that pharmaceutical crops be planted no closer

than one-half mile from plants grown for human or animal consumption - a

measure considered laughable by farmers and biologists.

 

You have to wonder, they say, if anybody has told the USDA about the

birds and the bees.

 

Jane Bock, a professor of plant ecology and evolution at the University

of Colorado, said a conservative estimate of the typical range for corn

pollen would be " a few miles. " All it takes is a flock of crows or a few

insects landing in the field to disperse it widely.

 

Add to that the likelihood that farm machinery, farmers, dogs and

assorted wildlife would have contact with both crops, and the notion of

containing the genetic material on one corner of fertile Mother Earth is

absurd.

 

Last year, farmers in Iowa and Nebraska discovered just how preposterous

it is.

 

In Iowa, 100 acres of contaminated cropland were quarantined after a

ProdiGene test went awry. In Nebraska, 500,000 bushels of soybeans had

to be destroyed when errant bio-pharm corn turned up in the crop.

 

That's one reason the bio-pharming industry became interested in

drought-plagued Colorado. It's no longer welcome in Iowa and Nebraska.

 

Even if state officials are willing to take a chance on bio-pharming,

the agricultural community is deeply skeptical.

 

" How do you get compensated when your customers lose faith in your

product? " Wiley asked. " Who is going to be liable when we lose our

markets? "

 

Those are questions Dechant already has had to face.

 

Two years ago, when StarLink genetically modified feed corn found its

way into tortillas sold to Taco Bell, corn growers got slammed.

 

The tortillas were deemed unfit for human consumption. People who ate

them were at risk for potentially fatal allergic reactions.

 

Corn prices plummeted.

 

" We lost more than 100 million bushels a year in exports, " Dechant said.

He figures his share of the $110 million settlement to injured farmers

will amount to " maybe a dollar or two per acre. And the export market

may never recover. "

 

For farmers, " it's really scary, " Crowell said. " It needs to be studied

carefully.

 

" And it needs to be studied before anybody lets the genie out of the

bottle. "