Biopharming reaps fear

From: "KD Weber"
Biopharming reaps fear

Biopharming reaps fear

By Diane Carman, Denver Post Columnist
The leaves are just beginning to turn in Phillips County, but any farmer
knows that means spring is just around the corner. And next spring likely will
be a bitter one on the Eastern Plains.
A mysterious farmer at a secret location somewhere in northeastern
Colorado is expected to plant a corn crop that must never be eaten by humans or
animals, must never come in contact with other crops, and is so volatile, a
1-mile buffer must surround it to prevent pollen from contaminating other crops.
The biopharm corn has been genetically engineered to produce lipase, a
fat-digesting enzyme used in the treatment of cystic fibrosis and other
conditions. Meristem Therapeutics of France won approval from the state
Department of Agriculture to contract with a Colorado farmer to produce the
crop.
Biopharming is a cheap means for producing substances such as lipase that
traditionally have been extracted from animals or formulated in laboratories.
But though the permit has been approved, it hasn't put an end to the
controversy. While the industry lobbies for support, farmers and
environmentalists 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, to
visit the Meristem labs. The Colorado Corn Growers Association paid to send
Stencel, three state legislators and others on the six-day trip.
The group talked to scientists, reviewed research data and toured a
Meristem farm.
State Rep. Ray Rose, R-Montrose, said he went to France "skeptical of the
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" with
no adverse effects, Rose said. "There's a lot of fear out there, but those fears
are not based on any scientific platform. They're pure emotion."
Suzanne Wuerthele, a toxicologist who chairs the genetic engineering
committee for the Sierra Club, disagreed. She said the risks are potentially
devastating for farmers, consumers and the environment. And she 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 of biotechnology to
review the application and withheld critical information. "They decided the
public's right to know was superseded by the company's desire for
confidentiality."
Wuerthele said the male sterile corn used on the biopharms still produces
up to 10 percent of the pollen typically released by fertile corn plants, and
that winds easily could carry the pollen to nearby food cornfields.
Furthermore, the effect on wildlife and humans who eat the pharm corn is
unknown - even Meristem officials emphasize the need for segregating the crop -
and the risk to farmers who inhale the lipase-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 is great," Wuerthele said.
"And once that happens, it will destroy our export markets."
Stencel is equally concerned about the impact on the commodities market.
"Our exports are still off 30 to 40 percent from what they were six years ago,"
primarily because many foreign countries refuse to buy genetically modified
foods, he said.
And while "a dozen, maybe two dozen" farmers in the state could be
enriched by the production of the lucrative biopharm crops, "thousands of other
farmers could be hurt."
But since Meristem already has the go-ahead, Stencel and other farmers are
exploring the question of liability in the event that food crops are
contaminated, as they were in biopharm mistakes in Iowa and Nebraska in 2002.
Some farmers are insisting on triple damages for any crops that must be
destroyed because of biopharm contamination.
It's not greed, Stencel said. "You may not be able to grow a crop again on
the same soil for a year or two. And who will pay? The research company? The
farmer? We need to know the answer."
Rose said protocols are in place that reduce the dangers from biopharming,
and that the benefits to society from the production of cheaper 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 taco shells and
other foods in 2000, it cost the industry more than $1 billion in recall
expenses, lawsuits and lost sales.
"If the process is so damn safe, why is it that this company is raising
this crop 3,000 miles away from home?" Wuerthele said. "It's like hazardous
waste. You go where the least regulations are, dump it there and run."

RETURN TO TOP