State Bars Company's Plan to Plant Bio-Engineered Rice

JUDY SILBER / Contra Costa Times (California) 10apr04

In a blow to growers of genetically engineered rice, a state agency ruled Friday that the controversial crop cannot be planted this year.

Responding to objections made in thousands of phone calls, e-mails, faxes and letters, the Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture refused to authorize the planting of two varieties of rice genetically engineered to contain human proteins.

The decision dashed the hopes of Sacramento-based Ventria Bioscience to move toward commercializing its products -- pharmaceuticals for diarrhea and anemia that it intends to extract from the biotech rice. A rice advisory board had last week recommended the secretary grant emergency approval so that Ventria could plant this spring.

With Friday's decision, it's "probably possible" that the company may altogether abandon its plans to eventually grow thousands of acres in California, said Ventria Chief Executive Officer Scott Deeter. The company had wanted to scale up so that it could move toward commercializing its products.

Ventria has grown biotech rice in California since 1997. But the secretary's permission was needed to grow more than 50 acres.

"We don't want to lose another year," Deeter said. The company will instead consider growing the rice in other states or countries where the regulatory process is less cumbersome, he said.

Friday's decision was a victory for farmers and activists who had said the environmental and economic implications were too great to rush through a decision.

"The California Department of Food and Agriculture made the right decision," said Bill Freese, a research analyst for Friends of the Earth, an environmental organization. "(These) crops pose risks to human health and the environment that haven't been adequately examined."

The human forms of the proteins called lactoferrin and lysozyme are safe for people. But it's not clear whether the rice biotech varieties are harmful to either people or animals. Contamination by biotech seed of conventional rice crops could pose safety problems, Freese said.

In a letter to the California Rice Commission, the board that had requested the emergency approval, two reasons were cited for denial.

First, an emergency approval would have bypassed the usual public review process. But it is clear that the public wanted an opportunity to comment, the letter stated.

Second, the Rice Commission needed to verify that Ventria held all necessary federal permits. As it turns out, Ventria has not yet received permission from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to plant in California this year. The company had originally applied to plant 120 acres in California. The agency initially denied Ventria's application but said it is now reconsidering for 14 acres.

Rice grower Greg Massa said he is very pleased with the secretary's decision. Massa and other growers worried that the introduction of genetically engineered rice threatened California's $500 million industry. They argued that the threat of contamination would scare off buyers from Europe and Japan.

But without a public hearing process, there was no one to hear their concerns, he said. On Tuesday, farmers presented the Department of Food and Agriculture with a petition, protesting the emergency review.

"I'm very pleased if they're opening it up to more public comment," Massa said after hearing of the decision. "There was no basis for an emergency rule to come through on this."

source: http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/8401884.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp 11apr04