GE medicine crops taking root

WASHINGTON - The United States Government will not stop farmers in the Midwest and Plains states planting crops engineered to produce medicines, despite pleas from environmental groups worried about contamination.

US food industry and environmental groups are concerned that without tough safeguards, the new crops could contaminate corn, soybeans and other crops used for human and livestock food.

In response, the US Agriculture Department has proposed rules requiring farmers and biotech companies such as Dow Chemical and Monsanto to plant pharmaceutical crops at least 1600m from other crops.

The department promised to keep a closer eye on the experimental crops after a Texas company was last year fined for allegedly mishandling its pharmaceutical corn and contaminating nearby crops.

ProdiGene, a privately owned biotech firm, agreed to pay about $US3 million ($5.3 million) in fines and costs after traces of its experimental corn were found in some Nebraska soybeans.

Bobby Acord, administrator for the department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said the changes were made to "make absolutely certain there are no ProdiGenes in the future".

About 15 to 20 companies have spliced corn, soybeans, tobacco, rice, barley and sugar crops as a cheaper way to mass-produce medicines.

None of these pharmaceutical crops has yet been approved by US regulators for commercial use, but the companies aim to market them in a few years.

The new rules fall short of the demands from some environmental groups for a ban on pharmaceutical crops in key food-growing states such as Iowa and Illinois.

The Biotechnology Industry Organisation endorsed a ban on pharmaceutical crops in the Midwest and Plains states in October, but quickly reversed it after strong opposition from politicians in farm states. The new technology is a potentially a lucrative business for farmers because the crops would command premium prices.

The department said it would allow the continued planting of pharmaceutical and industrial crops but under stricter conditions.

Under the proposed rules, corn crops, spliced to produce medicine, would have to be planted at least 1600m from plants destined for human and livestock food. Current regulations call for an 800m gap.

The department said about 50ha of land last year was authorised for field tests. The 34 test plots, each about 2000 sq m, included farmland in Nebraska, Iowa, California, Kentucky, Virginia and Hawaii.

Biotech crops
* Corn crops spliced to produce medicine must be planted at least 1600m from plants destined for human and livestock food under new rules for planting pharmaceutical and industrial crops in the US Midwest. Current regulations call for an half-mile 800m separation.

* The US Agriculture Department will keep a closer eye on experimental crops after a Texas company allegedly mishandled pharmaceutical corn and contaminated nearby crops.

- REUTERS