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Food, Biotech Industries Feud Over Plans for Bio-Pharming (Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2002 -- CropChoice news) --
Scott Kilman, The Wall Street Journal: A fight is breaking out between the U.S. food and biotechnology
industries over plans to genetically modify food crops to make drugs and
chemicals.
Bio-pharming is widely seen as the next wave for the crop-biotechnology
sector, which so far has focused on making crops easier to grow. Industry
officials hope this nascent field, which exploits the ability of plants to
make medically important proteins at far less expense than fermentation
factories, will grow into a multibillion-dollar business by the end of the
decade.
But politically powerful trade groups for the $500 billion food sector are
preparing to lobby federal regulators for new rules that would make life
far more difficult for bio-pharming firms. The food industry, which has
been generally supportive of crop biotechnology thus far, might try to
enlist consumers in its drive to take food crops out of the hands of
bio-pharming businesses.
'Go to the Public' "If need be, we could even go to the public," said
Rhona Applebaum, executive vice president of scientific and regulatory
affairs at the National Food Processors Association in Washington, D.C.
Most food executives have long supported the push by biotech companies
into agriculture, anticipating the creation of crops that would taste
better, stay fresh longer and no longer trigger allergic reactions in
consumers.
But they don't want their favorite crops genetically modified for anybody
else. Many food executives are afraid that vaccines, enzymes, antibodies
and hormones might accidentally end up in their products, which would
trigger expensive recalls. They are worried that handling mishaps might
occur and that pollen from plants designed for pharmaceutical purposes
might drift far enough on the wind to impregnate related crops intended
for food.
'Corn Is Protected' "We want to ensure that our corn is protected. We are
concerned," said Mark Dollins, a spokesman for PepsiCo Inc. unit Quaker
Oats, which has a breakfast-cereal factory in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a state
that is spending millions of dollars to attract bio-pharming firms
interested in working on corn plants, its biggest crop.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which has been reviewing the rules,
requires bio-pharming inventors to keep their experimental crops a certain
distance from fields of related plants and to time the reproductive cycle
of their fields so that they are out of synch with those of neighbors'
fields. But there is no limit on the geography of bio-pharming inventions
or the plants that can be used.
Trade groups such as Grocery Manufacturers of America and the National
Food Processors Association are pressing the biotechnology industry to
make pharmaceuticals only from nonfood crops such as tobacco. But food
crops such as corn, canola, potatoes, and tomatoes are the plants of
choice for many bio-pharming researchers.
On The Pharm. The biggest North American biotech trade group, the
Biotechnology Industry Organization, tried to strike a compromise late
last month. Its bio-pharming members, which number about a dozen in the
U.S. and Canada, pledged to avoid planting corn in the major
corn-producing states of Iowa, Illinois and Indiana and in portions of
Nebraska and five other states.
Doesn't Cover All Food Crops. But the drug-free zone doesn't go far enough
for many in the food sector. It doesn't cover all food crops, it is little
more than a gentleman's agreement, and some companies interested in
bio-pharming aren't members of the trade group. Iowa officials, for
example, are pressing ahead with efforts to foster a bio-pharming industry
built around corn, its biggest crop.
"We'll make sure Iowa is still the place to be" for biotechnology firms,
Iowa Gov. Thomas Vilsack said. Midwest economists see bio-pharming as a
rare chance for a niche of farmers to reap much more money from growing
corn. "The stakes are big for a place like rural Iowa," said Mark
Drabenstott, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Mo.,
adding: "There aren't a lot of economic opportunities that come along like
this for them."
Iowa has been among the most aggressive states at trying to build a
bio-pharming industry. The state has poured millions into research at its
public universities, created tax incentives to lure inventors, and is
proceeding with plans to build a facility for extracting pharmaceutical
proteins from crops.
Recruit Meristem. One Iowa recruit is Meristem Therapeutics, a French
biotechnology concern, which this year grew a one-acre test plot of corn
genetically modified to make gastric lipase enzyme, which is used to treat
digestive problems caused by cystic fibrosis.
Bill Horan, the Rockwell City, Iowa, farmer who grew the experimental
corn, wouldn't comment on whether the project will continue in that state
next year. Meristem is a member of Biotechnology Industry Organization,
the industry trade group that arranged the truce. A spokesman for the
organization said it expects Meristem to go along with the agreement, but
officials of Meristem couldn't be reached for comment on their plans.
The accord will force ProdiGene Inc., a closely held BIO member based in
College Station, Texas, to shift hundreds of acres of its genetically
modified corn from one county in Nebraska, said Anthony Laos, its chief
executive officer. The corn is engineered to make trypsin, a protein that
is produced by the pancreas. The drug sector uses the protein to make
insulin, among other things.
The trade-group moratorium is open-ended in terms of how long it lasts.
But Mr. Laos said he intends to honor it for one year and then reconsider.
He also is adamant about continuing to use the corn plant. Corn, he says,
is one of the easiest plants to genetically modify, and it excels at
making novel proteins in its seeds, a handy storage container. "We have
capitulated some, but I would fight going any further," the CEO said. | |
