Line between Pharma and Farm grows thinner.
Interesting if potentially scary developments in Bio-Engineering.
From
The Washington Post:
USDA Backs Production of Rice With Human Genes
The Agriculture Department has given a preliminary green light for the first commercial production of a food crop engineered to contain human genes, reigniting fears that biomedically potent substances in high-tech plants could escape and turn up in other foods.
The plan, confirmed yesterday by the California biotechnology company leading the effort, calls for large-scale cultivation in Kansas of rice that produces human immune system proteins in its seeds.
"We can really help children with diarrhea get better faster. That is the idea," said Scott E. Deeter, president and chief executive of Sacramento-based Ventria Bioscience, emphasizing that a host of protections should keep the engineered plants and their seeds from escaping into surrounding fields.
But critics are assailing the effort, saying gene-altered plants inevitably migrate out of their home plots. In this case, they said, that could result in pharmacologically active proteins showing up in the food of unsuspecting consumers.
Although the proteins are not inherently dangerous, there would be little control over the doses people might get exposed to, and some might be allergic to the proteins, said Jane Rissler of the Union of Concerned Scientists, a science policy advocacy group.
I can see the concern and certainly, there is the possibility of drift of pollen into other rice fields -- but -- Ventria Bioscience was able to get this approved and as one of the first projects like this, I am betting that the hurdle was fairly high.
Pollen drift is a concern, in our area, at the local ag research center, there are maps of who is growing what variety of plant so that people can coordinate their plans for this years crop.
And for the enviro-ninnies who say that any kind of plant modification is just plain wrong, I would like to see them break their teeth on the original corn or try to get a nutritious meal from the original wheat...
Here is Ventria's website:
Ventria Bioscience
Posted by DaveH at March 4, 2007 8:40 PM