Genetically Modified Rice
Won't Be Planted Near Bootheel Fields 

BILL LAMBRECHT / St. Louis Post-Dispatch 15apr2005

WASHINGTON - The California company whose plan to sprout pharmaceutical rice in Missouri's Bootheel triggered a boycott threat from the Anheuser-Busch brewing company said Friday that it would seek a new Missouri planting site removed from commercial rice fields.

After a meeting in St. Louis with brewery officials and political leaders, the California company, Ventria Bioscience, said it would amend its application with the U.S. Department of Agriculture so that its genetically engineered rice would be planted at least 120 miles away from the prime rice fields of southeast Missouri.

As part of the agreement announced by Gov. Matt Blunt, Anheuser-Busch dropped its threat to stop buying rice from Missouri growers.

Blunt called the agreement "a huge step forward" for agriculture, Missouri's plant-science industry and Ventria's goal of finding medicines that can help children.

Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo., said he was "very proud that friends have come together in good faith and reached an agreement that addresses all concerns while permitting this critical technology to find a welcome home in Missouri."

Scott Deeter, Ventria's president and chief operating officer, said he planned as early as this weekend to inform the Agriculture Department of a new site for planting the pharmaceutical rice. He would not disclose potential locations.

A government decision on Ventria's application is due any day, and Deeter said his company still intends to plant its engineered rice this spring. "We have to move pretty quickly," he said in a telephone interview, adding that he was pleased with the agreement.

The announcement provided a new twist to a controversy that has embroiled politicians, rice farmers, the food industry, environmentalists and Missouri's plant-science researchers.

Fearing potential contamination of their crops and a loss of markets, rice growers in southern Missouri responded with outrage to Ventria's plan to genetically engineer rice to produce human proteins for use in drugs and other products.

The proteins, lactoferrin and lysozyme, both occur in breast milk, saliva and other bodily fluids. They are valued for their capacity to aid in combating bacteria, viruses and other bodily invaders.

Leading food companies and environmental advocates - both of which oppose open-air cultivation of plant-made pharmaceuticals - joined Missouri rice farmers' campaign to derail Ventria's plan.

The momentum tilted this week to rice growers when Anheuser-Busch declared that it wouldn't buy Missouri rice for its beer because of concern that the pharmaceutical rice couldn't be kept separate from edible rice.

Among its concerns, the brewery stated, were that that the Food and Drug Administration has not declared the pharmaceutical rice safe for consumption and that no test exists for detecting the presence of the gene-altered rice in conventional rice.

Although Anheuser-Busch dropped its opposition, the compromise was unlikely to satisfy critics in the food industry and environmental groups. Rice growers sounded wary.

"I guess we'll have to live with it for now," said Sonny Martin, a farmer in Bernie, Mo., and a spokesman for the industry.

"But I do not think the rice will grow north of I-44. I think they're just doing this so that they can stay in Missouri, and that they'll try to be back down our way next year."

Bill Freese, spokesman for Friends of the Earth, which has coordinated opposition in Missouri, said he welcomed the move away from the Bootheel but added, "We believe that any outdoor cultivation of pharmaceutical crop is ill-advised."

State Sen. Robert Mayer, R-Dexter, said he was pleased to hear that the pharmaceutical rice would not be growing in his district. But he said wanted to learn how rice customers other than Anheuser-Busch felt about the compromise before offering his blessing.

Representatives of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center took part in the meeting that produced the compromise.

Reversing her position before the compromise, U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, on Friday sent a letter to Blunt declaring her opposition to the Bootheel planting.

In an interview, Emerson said she had been torn by her support of genetic engineering technologies and the growing likelihood that Missouri rice farmers would lose markets if the pharmaceutical rice were planted.

"It's the only conclusion I could come to. I wasn't about to jeopardize a $100 million rice market in southern Missouri," she said.

Gregory Cancelada of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

source: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/story/FC02572689A6C1FE86256FE50015419A?OpenDocument 17apr2005