Stray corn plants that had been genetically modified to contain DNA of a protein used to treat digestive health conditions were found among soybean fields in Iowa and Nebraska. The biotechnology company that produced the gene-altered corn, ProdiGene Inc., is being investigated by the U.S. government for failing to completely remove the corn crop from fields.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) ordered the company to burn the contaminated soybean crops and suggested that fines may be forthcoming. The law allows a fine of twice the value of the damaged crops, or up to $500,000 for each violation.
Environmentalists have voiced concern for some time that genetically altered crops could have health implications, but with this recent case the food industry, which generally promotes crops altered to grow faster and be disease resistant, is joining in, demanding stronger controls over producing medicines with food crops. The above-mentioned corn is a type of crop referred to as a biopharm, or pharm crop, one that is not meant for consumption but rather as a way to produce ingredients for drugs.
Food processors suggest that plants that are not consumed, not corn or food crops, be used for testing. The concern is that pharmaceuticals may end up contaminating the food supply, as preventative measures have already fallen short. Food processors took this issue to the USDA, urging "mandatory regulatory oversight" on all pharmaceutical crops. Environmentalists have also taken issue with the USDA, saying that they have counted more than 300 biotech trials since 1991 and suspect that some contamination has reached the food supply.
Recently, several biotech companies agreed to not grow gene-altered crops for drug development in areas that chiefly produce that crop, yet many activists state that this type of testing should not take place unless 100 percent confinement can be guaranteed.
Others, including many European nations, believe that biotech plants should not be used since their long-term safety for humans is not known.
According to the biotech industry, 300 acres in the U.S. were planted with pharm crops this year.
MSNBC November 15, 2002
Here we have the first evidence that unscrupulous companies like Prodigene are circumventing safety standards and letting these genetically modified foods into the environment.
This is a prescription for disaster. It is exciting to see the U.S. Department of Agriculture finally being pressured to take some proactive action on this one.
I warned of the danger of genetically altered plants well over a year ago. It amazes me that many are blinded to the potential devastation. If you are not familiar with this issue please read the links below.
Here is my comment from last year:
Already, investigators have found that rats fed genetically modified potatoes had an increased thickening in the lining of their stomach and intestine and a weakening of their immune system.
And now scientists want to put vaccines into the plants.
What they have failed to fully appreciate is that once these plants are growing it is physically impossible to prevent them from pollinating other plants and contaminating them with these new proteins, the long-term consequences of which remain unknown.
Take, for example, Starlink corn. This product was approved only for animal consumption -- NOT human consumption. This was because there was concern that the corn could cause allergies in humans. Well, Starlink corn wound up directly in the human food supply, despite FDA precautions.
If this practice continues, our grandchildren may not have access to any non-genetically modified food, and the health of our society may continue to rapidly decline.
One of the keys to health is good food. Although most of us don't choose to do so, we can still purchase real unaltered food in this country. The future does not appear to provide this option.
Genetically modified foods did not exist prior to 1995. Ninety percent of the money Americans spend on food is spent on processed foods and seventy percent of processed foods have genetically modified foods in them.
There have been NO STUDIES done on humans to determine what happens when genetically modified foods are consumed. The FDA has ASSUMED that they are equivalent to the original and has never required any studies to have them approved.
This is despite the fact that this technology has never before existed in the history of the world.
There are EIGHT different agencies in the U.S. regulating biotechnology under TWELVE different sets of laws. NONE of the laws had biotechnology in mind when they were passed, as they are 40 to 50 years old.
This is a disaster waiting to happen.
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