T
The420Guy
Guest
WASHINGTON, DC, July 16, 2002 (ENS) - Experimental plants engineered to
produce pharmaceuticals are being grown at over 300 secret locations
nationwide, a new report has revealed. Biotechnology firms are conducting
experiments with corn, soy, rice and tobacco that are genetically
manipulated to produce drugs designed to act as vaccines, contraceptives,
induce abortions, generate growth hormones, create blood clots, produce
industrial enzymes and propagate allergenic enzymes.
"Just one mistake by a biotech company and we'll be eating other people's
prescription drugs in our corn flakes," said Larry Bohlen, director of
health and environment programs at Friends of the Earth, a member of a
coalition of consumer and environmental groups that produced the report,
released late last week.
The experimental application of biotechnology in which plants are
genetically engineered to produce pharmaceutical proteins and chemicals
they do not produce naturally has been termed "biopharming." Companies
engaged in biopharming keep their activities secret, citing the secret
plantings as confidential business information.
The report, entitled "Manufacturing Drugs and Chemicals in Crops:
Biopharming Poses New Threats to Consumers, Farmers, Food Companies and
the Environment," was produced by the Genetically Engineered Food Alert
coalition and presented to Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman on Thursday.
To date, the secretary has made no public comment on the report.
In a letter to Veneman, the coalition called for an end to open air
cultivation of crops engineered to produce prescription drugs or
industrial chemicals.
"The USDA [U.S. Department of Agriculture] should prohibit the planting
of food crops engineered with drugs and chemicals to protect the food
supply from contamination," Bohlen said.
The highest number of field trials are taking place in Nebraska, Hawaii,
Wisconsin and Puerto Rico. But other states, including Iowa, Florida,
Illinois, Texas, California, Maryland, Kentucky and Indiana, also have
numerous tests being conducted near food producing farms.
The report details the many threats that biopharm crops pose, the extent
to which crops have been planted across the United States, the failure of
regulatory agencies to regulate the experiments, and a set of
recommendations.
The coalition proposes that the USDA permit limited cultivation of
non-food plants in the same controlled environment as other drug
production.
The USDA has primary authority for experimental biopharm crop
cultivation. Historically, the agency has kept all drug and chemical crop
sites secret from the public and neighboring farmers, and has hidden the
identity of the drugs or chemicals being produced. The agency has
condoned companies' preferred practice of anonymously planting biopharm
crops without identification, security measures or notification of
neighbors, the report claims.
Subject: Secret U.S. Biopharms Growing Experimental Drugs
from Preston Peet drugwar.com
produce pharmaceuticals are being grown at over 300 secret locations
nationwide, a new report has revealed. Biotechnology firms are conducting
experiments with corn, soy, rice and tobacco that are genetically
manipulated to produce drugs designed to act as vaccines, contraceptives,
induce abortions, generate growth hormones, create blood clots, produce
industrial enzymes and propagate allergenic enzymes.
"Just one mistake by a biotech company and we'll be eating other people's
prescription drugs in our corn flakes," said Larry Bohlen, director of
health and environment programs at Friends of the Earth, a member of a
coalition of consumer and environmental groups that produced the report,
released late last week.
The experimental application of biotechnology in which plants are
genetically engineered to produce pharmaceutical proteins and chemicals
they do not produce naturally has been termed "biopharming." Companies
engaged in biopharming keep their activities secret, citing the secret
plantings as confidential business information.
The report, entitled "Manufacturing Drugs and Chemicals in Crops:
Biopharming Poses New Threats to Consumers, Farmers, Food Companies and
the Environment," was produced by the Genetically Engineered Food Alert
coalition and presented to Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman on Thursday.
To date, the secretary has made no public comment on the report.
In a letter to Veneman, the coalition called for an end to open air
cultivation of crops engineered to produce prescription drugs or
industrial chemicals.
"The USDA [U.S. Department of Agriculture] should prohibit the planting
of food crops engineered with drugs and chemicals to protect the food
supply from contamination," Bohlen said.
The highest number of field trials are taking place in Nebraska, Hawaii,
Wisconsin and Puerto Rico. But other states, including Iowa, Florida,
Illinois, Texas, California, Maryland, Kentucky and Indiana, also have
numerous tests being conducted near food producing farms.
The report details the many threats that biopharm crops pose, the extent
to which crops have been planted across the United States, the failure of
regulatory agencies to regulate the experiments, and a set of
recommendations.
The coalition proposes that the USDA permit limited cultivation of
non-food plants in the same controlled environment as other drug
production.
The USDA has primary authority for experimental biopharm crop
cultivation. Historically, the agency has kept all drug and chemical crop
sites secret from the public and neighboring farmers, and has hidden the
identity of the drugs or chemicals being produced. The agency has
condoned companies' preferred practice of anonymously planting biopharm
crops without identification, security measures or notification of
neighbors, the report claims.
Subject: Secret U.S. Biopharms Growing Experimental Drugs
from Preston Peet drugwar.com
