U.S. consumer groups to sue USDA over GMO medicine crops

Thursday, March 06, 2003
By Randy Fabi, Reuters

WASHINGTON — A coalition of U.S. environmental and consumer groups
Wednesday threatened to sue the U.S. Agriculture Department unless it
temporarily halts planting of biotech crops engineered to produce
medicinal and industrial products.

At issue is the worry that some new kinds of bioengineered crops could
inadvertently contaminate corn, soybeans, and other nearby crops grown
for human and livestock food.

A coalition of 11 groups, including Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace,
and Center for Food Safety, accused the USDA of allowing the
experimental crops to be planted without conducting required
environmental risk assessments.

Without such analyses, the USDA "is risking permanent contamination of
the environment and our food supply with numerous drugs and
chemicals," said Peter Jenkins, attorney for the Center for Food
Safety.

USDA officials were not immediately available for comment.

The coalition of activist groups has long criticized biotech crops,
even those approved for food and livestock feed, saying they may harm
the environment and could cause an increase in allergic reactions in
consumers.

American farm groups and foodmakers are strong supporters of biotech
foods but are split on the future of so-called "bio-pharm" crops.

Biotech companies like Dow Chemical Co. and Monsanto Co. are
engineering corn, soybeans, tobacco, and sugar crops as a cheaper way
to mass produce medicines to treat a range of human ailments.

The USDA and the Food and Drug Administration are expected to propose
new rules for growing medicinal crops this week.

Industry sources said on Tuesday that the new proposed rules will
require U.S. farmers to plant experimental pharmaceutical crops
further away from nearby fields with food crops. They will also urge
growers to use completely separate farm equipment when planting,
cultivating, and harvesting the pharmaceutical plants, the sources
said.

No pharmaceutical crops have yet been approved by U.S. regulators for
commercial use.

Last year, about 300 acres of American farmland in Hawaii, Iowa, and
other states were planted with experimental pharmaceutical crops.

The crops have attracted new attention since late last year, when
ProdiGene, a small Texas biotech company, paid about $3 million in
fines and costs to settle USDA allegations that the firm accidentally
contaminated food crops with its pharmaceutical corn.

The activist coalition said that incident showed the new crops pose a
danger to the nation's food supply. The groups said they will file a
lawsuit against USDA unless the government imposed a temporary ban by
early May.

Source: Reuters

Marcus Williamson wrote in message
news

U.S. consumer groups to sue USDA over GMO medicine crops

so what, Americans are notorious for bringing silly court cases


--
Jim Webster

"The pasture of stupidity is unwholesome to mankind"

'Abd-ar-Rahman b. Muhammad b. Khaldun al-Hadrami'

"Jim Webster" wrote in message
...

Marcus Williamson wrote in message
news

U.S. consumer groups to sue USDA over GMO medicine crops

so what, Americans are notorious for bringing silly court cases

The answer is rather simple. If you are using corn for the pharm crop plant
it in the irrigated valleys of California where no one grows a crop with
that low a return on investment or grow it on one of the big ranches that
that have total control of the crops and traffic near them. Many of our
presidents hunt and fish on them because it doesn't cost anything for
security or disrupt the community. I used to fish near one that G. Bush the
Elder hunted on occasionally and the only thing different was there would be
a couple of extra coast guard boats and a little more helicopter traffic
over by Matagorda Island. I am sure he had is usual secret service people
with him but it didn't up set the town for a week like it did when he gave a
commencement speech here at OSU.

We have plenty of places that they can be raised safely if the idiot in
charge used their heads.

I never could understand why a company form College Station, Texas went to
corn country to raise their corn when they could have stayed in their own
back yard on the Brasos River where very little corn is raised because
cotton or cattle pay better and done it at home. The yield would have been
a little lower but so would the risks.

They are looking for a new CEO with strong pharmaceutical experiance.

Gordon

so what, Americans are notorious for bringing silly court cases

What's your view of growing pharmaceuticals in food crops?

regards
Marcus

Marcus Williamson wrote in message
...

so what, Americans are notorious for bringing silly court cases

What's your view of growing pharmaceuticals in food crops?

as gordon says, in the right area, no problem

what's your view of using petrochemicals to produce pharmaceuticals?


--
Jim Webster

"The pasture of stupidity is unwholesome to mankind"

'Abd-ar-Rahman b. Muhammad b. Khaldun al-Hadrami'


regards
Marcus