In Iowa we are very concerned about water quality.

This article illustrates one way in which agricultural genetic engineering
intended to make plants produce pharmaceuticals (pharming) threatens water
quality.

My corrections are in brackets.

Tom
----------------------------
Subj:         note on Pharming trials from J Cummins
Date:   02-08-29 15:37:46 EDT
From:   [log in to unmask] (Jim Diamond)
Sender: [log in to unmask] (Biotech Forum)
Reply-to:   [log in to unmask] (Biotech Forum)
To: [log in to unmask]

       From Joe Cummins comes the following piece about Pharming -- the brief
summary is that pharming can be done hydropontically, that perhaps it's even
a better way to do pharming since it could be done in enclosed systems, and
at the same time that uncontained pharming may already be a public health
hazard.
            Jim Diamond

Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2002
From: jcummins <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: release of pharmaceutical proteins to groundwater

"Release of pharmaceutical proteins from modified plants to hydroponic
solutions and to groundwater"

Pharm crops are genetically modified (GM) crops containing genes from
humans, animals or bacteria that code for products (mainly proteins)
used to treat diseases of humans and animals.  In an earlier report on
the problems associated with field tests of pharm crops I highlighted the
pollution of ground & surface water with pharmaceutically active
products(1).  Recently, reports have begun to appear indicating that
pharmaceutical products are extruded [exuded] from the GM crops in root
exudates
in good quantity allowing harvest of the product from hydroponic media.
The products extruded [exuded] include human antibody protein from tobacco
roots
(20 and human & bacterial enzymes from tobacco (3).  Rhizo secretion of
pharmaceutical proteins into hydroponic media may be a safe and
effective way of producing proteins continuously from GM crops with
limited threat to the environment.
The study of rhizo secretion also pinpoints an important flaw in the
regulation of field tests and field production of pharm crops.  The
United States department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service (APHIS) who regulate field testing of pharm crops
emphasize measures that prevent spread of pollen from pharm crops but do
not consider the measures needed to prevent groundwater pollution by
exudates or plant decay (4) and advisory meetings on pharm crop testing
have not considered the impact on groundwater (5).  The Canadian Food
Inspection Agency regulates field testing of pharm crops in Canada, the
agency contracted two reports on Pharm crops, the first considered
plants as bioreactors (6) and that report considered the need for safety
regulations but ignored ground water and the second (7) dealt with the
impact of pharm crops on biodiversity, but even that report did not deal
with the groundwater pollution by pharmaceutical products that are
active in minute quantity.  Even though rhizosphere secretion is well
studied the North American regulators who permitted numerous field
trials of pharm crops but maintained a n umbrella of confidentiality
over the tests and their results.
In London, Ontario tests of a pharm crop of an extremely potent immune
suppressant, interleukin 10, was
undertaken without public notification and no means of alerting
residents whose wells would be polluted to some degree by the
pharmaceutical product.  The regulators seem to have been issued
"blinders" that make them ignore a most important pollution source.
The public must be provided with location of field tests for pharm crops
and with the complete monitoring protocol for the field experiments.
People who use water wells and experience new unexplained maladies
should consider looking for field trials in their immediate area
(acknowledging that regulators deal with the tests as confidential
studies).  The best immediate remedy from the hazards of the field tests
is to restrict future testing to fully contained facilities.

References
1. Cummins,J "Poison pharm crops near you" ISIS report 7 March 2002
http:www.i-sis.org.uk/DeadlyPharm.php
2. Hui,Z,Zhang,Z,Bao,Y,Liu,W,Gan,Q and An,L "Production of functional
single chain Fv protein in transgenic tobacco root exudates" 2002
Biotechnology Letters, 24,1531-34
3. Borisjuk,N, Borisjuk,L,Sithes,L,Petersen,F,Gleba,Y & Raskin,I
"Production of recombinant proteins in plant root exudates" 1999 Nature
Biotech 17, 466-71
4. USDA Biotechnology Regulatory Services May 2002 Plant Derived
Pharmaceuticals Permits
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/biotech/pdf/pharma_2000.pdf
5. Graham,S "Plant-Derived Biologics" April 5, 2000 145 pages
http://www.fda.gov/cber/minutes/plnt1040500.pdf
6. Canadian Food Inspection Agency "Plant Molecular Farming" 2001
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/plaveg/pbo/mf/mf_disde.shtml
7. Kirk,D "Potential Impacts of Plant Molecular Farming on Biodiversity"
2001
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/plaveg/pbo/mf/mf_kirke.shtml

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
To get off the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to:
[log in to unmask]