Human proteins may be approved in GM rice

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has granted preliminary approval for a large-scale plan to grow genetically-altered rice in Kansas, prompting some critics to raise safety concerns. Sacramento, CA-based Ventria Bioscience wants to grow rice modified to produce human proteins on more than 3,000 acres of farmland near Junction City, Kansas. Until now, plants with human genes have been restricted to small test plots. The pharmaceutical rice would be harvested and refined for use in medicines to fight diarrhea, dehydration and other illnesses that kill millions of infants and toddlers each year. Ventria has developed three varieties of rice, each endowed with a different human gene that makes the plants produce one of three human proteins. Two of them–lactoferrin and lysozyme–are bacteria-fighting compounds found in breast milk and saliva. A recent company-sponsored study done in Peru concluded that children with severe diarrhea recovered a day and a half faster if the salty fluids they were prescribed were spiked with the proteins. Ventria's president and chief executive Scott E. Deeter has emphasized that a host of protections should keep the engineered plants and their seeds from escaping into surrounding fields. But critics are assailing the effort, saying gene-altered plants inevitably migrate out of their home plots. In this case, they said, that could result in pharmacologically active proteins showing up in the food of unsuspecting consumers. "We're opposed to the production of pharmaceutical and industrial chemicals in food crops grown outdoors because we think there are too many ways contamination of the food supply could occur," said Karen Perry Stillerman, senior analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a science advocacy group. Stillerman said weather events, like tornadoes, could carry seeds into other fields where contamination could occur. She also cited the possibility of human error in transporting and handling the rice. Although the proteins are not inherently dangerous, should contamination occur there would be little control over the doses people might get exposed to, and some might be allergic to the proteins, said Jane Rissler, senior scientist of the Food and Environment Program of the Union of Concerned Scientists. "This is not a product that everyone would want to consume," Rissler said, adding that other companies grow such plants indoors or in vats. "It is unwise to produce drugs in plants outdoors." Consumer advocacy groups, including Consumers Union and the Washington-based Center for Food Safety, have also opposed Ventria's plans. "I'm really concerned about this, because I think firstly there is this potential for this rice to get into the food supply, and secondly, it hasn't been tested," said Bill Freese of the US Center for Food Safety. "It hasn't gone through a drug review process. So we're dealing with an unknown here - something that could cause harm to human health." The USDA released its draft environmental assessment on Feb. 28 that concluded planting the rice poses no undue risks. The company is also talking to the Food and Drug Administration about putting the proteins into health foods. A previous plan to grow the rice in southern Missouri was dropped when Anheuser-Busch–the nation's largest rice buyer, which has expressed concern about the safety and consumer acceptance of gene-altered rice–threatened to stop buying rice from the state if the deal went through. The public has until the end of March to submit objections to the plan. If final permission is given, Ventria will begin planting rice in April or May of this year.