Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
An even more unfavorable scenario could emerge from possible con-
taminations of food or feed crop seed supplies. The recent contamina-
tions of conventional U.S. rice varieties by GM rice lines
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and the con-
troversial cultivation of a GM rice producing a PMP nearby a research
station where rice varieties are tested before introduction into the U.S.
rice breeding programs
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show that this is not an entirely hypothetical
scenario. Clarification would also be needed whether and to what extent
liability risks might be shifted to the contract farmer growing the pharm
crops.
Conversely, companies making and using PMPs can be expected to
strive to avoid contamination of their drugs or other products by food
and feed crops, pests, and pesticides, to maintain the purity and safety
standards of validated production processes. In certain areas concerns
might, however, differ between food and drug producers. For instance,
outcrossing via pollen transfer might be a particular concern for seed
producers of pharm crops but less so for the commercial production
stage - especially if the PMP will be purified from the green plant mate-
rial. In case of PMIs, there might, however, be less incentive for con-
finement. This type of product might be considered in many cases as
lower risk, but will also be of lower value compared to PMPs and occupy
(much) larger acreages. Thus, strict confinement measures may neither
be economically justified nor required.
With its already existing framework on coexistence for GM and non-
GM agriculture, the EU appears to be in a better starting position to deal
with such issues than the United States. However, it has to be questioned
55
Pew Research Center, Pharming the Field: A Look at the Benefits and Risks of Bio-
engineering Plants to Produce Pharmaceuticals, available at http://pewagbiotech.org/
events/0717/ConferenceReport.pdf.
56
Union of Concerned Scientists, Pharmaceutical and Industrial Crops. UCS uncovers
lax USDA oversight of pharma crops (2006), available at http://www.ucsusa.org/food
and environment/genetic engineering/usda-ventria-oversight.html.
