Sacramento, California
April 6, 2004
Paul Jacobs
San Jose Mercury News
via Checkbiotech.org
A Sacramento biotechnology company
seeking approval for the first commercial crop genetically
engineered to produce a drug has probably lost its chance to get
a crucial permit to plant the crop this year.
The company, Ventria Bioscience,
has apparently run out of time to get federal approval to plant
up to 120 acres of its genetically modified rice by the end of
the current planting season, according to the federal agency
that must issue the permit.
"I think they decided to forgo any commercial planting for this
year,'' said Neil Hoffman, who directs the biotechnology
regulatory program for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "Our
understanding is they wanted to do some field testing, but
nothing on a commercial scale.''
Ventria needs both state and federal permits to proceed. Last
week, it won an initial round of state approval from an advisory
committee, but still faces a decision from the state food and
agriculture secretary.
If approved, Ventria's proposal would be California's first
commercial planting of a genetically engineered "pharm'' crop,
which contains human medicines. Some rice growers and a number
of environmental groups, including Consumers Union and the
Sierra Club, oppose using food crops to grow prescription drugs
because of the risk of contamination of the food supply.
`Fingers crossed'
Ventria Chief Executive Scott Deeter concedes that it will be
difficult to get a large crop in the ground this year but is
hoping that the federal process could be sped up.
"I've got my fingers crossed, but I'm not making predictions,''
he said. "It's timing, weather and the ability to move quickly
at the USDA.''
The company has been field-testing rice that is modified to
produce two human proteins that guard against infection. Found
in human milk and tears, the proteins are natural antibiotics
that could be added to baby formula or put to other commercial
uses.
Worries about mixing
Last week, a California Rice Commission advisory committee
endorsed the company's proposal to begin planting up to 120
acres of the genetically engineered rice, but limited the crop
to 10 counties outside of California's
Central Valley rice belt. Critics worry that mixing of seed or
the rice itself could contaminate the non-pharmaceutical food
crop, creating the potential for health problems and damaging
sales of standard California rice varieties.
Under rules for agricultural emergencies, the state Secretary of
Food and Agriculture now has until the end of the month to make
a decision on whether or not to allow the company to go ahead
this year.
Opponents have argued that there is no emergency and that
Ventria's proposal should go through a standard state review, a
process that could take several months.
But even as Ventria was publicly asking the state to act quickly
on its plan, the company quietly amended its application to the
U.S. Department of Agriculture, which must also approve the
proposal before the crop can be planted.
The amended documents ask to test the rice on 14 acres at an
undisclosed location in Northern California -- the same kind of
field trial that has been allowed in the past under Ventria's
existing state and federal permits.
The USDA's Hoffman says it would now be virtually impossible for
the company to get a permit for a larger planting in another
county in time for the current growing season.
"They need to identify the site,'' Hoffman said in an interview
Monday. "We need to convince ourselves that the site was chosen
wisely. One of the exercises is to look at threatened or
endangered species for that area and that can vary county to
county.''
120 days for review
Once the environmental assessment is done, he said, the USDA has
120 days to review the plan.
The process could not be completed quickly enough to allow
Ventria to begin planting, even in Imperial County, far to the
south, where rice could be planted in July.
Opponents of Ventria's plan wonder why the company is racing to
win approval from the state when it seems unlikely to be able to
plant this year. "What's the emergency?'' asked Renata
Brillinger of Californians for GE-Free Agriculture.
"We want these pharm crops to be reviewed very rigorously,''
said Jane Rissler, a plant pathologist at the Union of Concerned
Scientists. "We basically don't want pharmaceuticals produced in
food crops because of the possibility of contamination of the
food supply.''
But Ventria's Deeter says the plans have had several months of
public review before the rice commission's advisory committee.
"I don't see the benefit to society to slow it down,'' he said.
"I don't think that's what's best for the state of California.''
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