By Bill Jackson
Greeley Tribune via Checkbiotech.org

Colorado Agriculture Commissioner Don Ament has given his approval to a U.S. Department of Agriculture permit to grow an experimental corn crop in northeast Colorado this summer.

Researchers at Iowa State University sought the USDA permit to experiment with producing what may eventually become a vaccine to prevent human or animal diarrhea, a disease responsible for thousands of childhood deaths each year in developing countries.

Kan Wang, the ISU researcher who sought the permit, said the goal is to develop a safer and more effective system for production of vaccines for humans and animals.

Last year, a French company, working with the Colorado Corn Growers, sought to grow an experimental corn crop to produce lipase, a naturally occurring enzyme that breaks down fats. It was aimed at helping people with cystic fibrosis who don't naturally produce the enzyme and can get it only through pharmaceuticals.

That permit came too late to plant the test plot and the company did not come back to renew the permit this year.

The newest permit has possibilities, Ament said.

"This is exciting and very promising technology. While we are receptive to growing experimental crops such as this, we will only endorse projects that are well designed and do not present a threat to our markets for food or feed crops," he said.

Ament noted that his agency will monitor the site to make certain that the permittee and USDA "follow the book" as the project develops.

"If experimental biotech crops are going to be grown in Colorado, it's going to be done right," he said.

There is no cornfield within five miles of the plot, according to the USDA permit.

Wang is a researcher for the Center for Plant Transformation at Iowa State University. Wang sought out the isolated, 3,600 square foot plot in eastern Colorado after learning that her plot in Iowa was not available this year.

© 2004 Greeley Tribune