Are you ready for "PHARM" crops?

DRUGS, VACCINES &

GENES IN YOUR CEREAL?

In this endless quest by big corporations to improve on Nature (and incidentally make lots and lots of money), the risks of committing serious

- and irretrievable -

errors multiply exponentially!

From the Rumor Mill News Reading Room http://www.rumormillnews.com HARM FROM "PHARM" CROPS? From: RayelanPosted By: Phoenix Date: Saturday, 25 May 2002, 8:39 p.m. In Response To: MONSANTO'S SECRET GM WHEAT PLOTS DISCOVERED (Spiritual_Piglet) READY FOR DRUGS, VACCINES & GENES IN YOUR CEREAL? HARM FROM "PHARM" CROPS? Have you heard about "PHARM" crops? "These crop plants have been engineered to make novel compounds for medical and industrial purposes pharmaceuticals, industrial enzymes, reagents for biochemical laboratories. About 20 companies worldwide are developing plants for the production of pharmaceutical or industrial proteins. Many of these crops are grown in open fields, and since companies in the U.S. are not required to disclose the information about these field tests, the location of the trials are generally closely held secrets." http://www.greenpeace.org/~geneng/reports/food/pharmrice.pdf Although, in theory, "Pharm" crops are an efficient way to produce drugs and chemicals by growing in grain, there are some very grave potential problems. The main problem is that the genetic changes to the crops will spread to nearby fields. This is a fact. Wind, birds, bees, etc; the pollen will spread. The other main problem is that some "Pharm" crops are being developed for direct consumption by YOU AND ME! By the way, don't expect your government to be monitoring this process carefully. Check it out for yourself at this USDA site: http://www.usda.gov/agencies/biotech/index.html Green Peace further states: "None of the companies have a commercial permit for the cultivation of these crops. In the case of avidin and beta-glucuronidase, the companies are selling the chemical in commercial channels, but hiding their actions behind a "research" permit provided by the USDA. With this type of permit, the chemicals and field locations can be kept secret." Q: What kind of products are companies developing in gene altered plants? "About 20 companies worldwide are developing plants for the production of pharmaceutical or industrial proteins using rice, wheat, corn, barley, tomatoes and other plants. Companies have already conducted open field trials of plants that PRODUCE HEPATITIS B VACCINE, HUMAN ANTIBODIES AGAINST HERPES AND OTHER DISEASES, AND HUMAN BLOOD PROTEINS." http://a520.g.akamai.net/7/520/1533/18a7c761c1b779/www.greenpeace.org/%7Egeneng/reports/food/pharmQ&A.pdf Far fetched, this idea of drugs, vaccines and genes in our cereal? OK then, let's take a look at what Applied Phytologics, Inc. (API) is doing. According to their website they are developing EDIBLE HUMAN THERAPEUTIC PRODUCTS. API is currently developing numerous products derived from enhanced cereal grains. "Edible Human Therapeutic Products In the United States, annual retail food sales approximate 500 billion dollars. Consumers increasingly demand and pay a premium for food products that confer health benefits beyond basic nutritive values of growth and maintenance. API's edible human therapeutic products use enhanced grains as vehicles for nutritionally improved foods processed through traditional systems. Because grains are mankind's most important source of nutrition, product opportunities with enhanced grains are broad. Cereals are generally recognized as safe by regulatory agencies and consumers Cereals generally recognized as safe help lower regulatory barriers to new biotechnology enhanced products and increasing consumer acceptance of value-added foods." http://www.apinc.com/KEYPRODUCTS.HTML Some more comforting words from the PEW Initiative on Food and Biotechnolgy: "Scientists have found that genetically modified plants can produce vaccines for human and animal illnesses ranging from colon cancer to traveler's diarrhea to tooth decay. Technology developers believe that using foods to deliver vaccines could have the benefit of permitting the vaccine to be consumed directly by humans or animals as food or feed, and eliminating the need for purification of the vaccine strain and the hazards associated with injections. Some of the plants used to develop the vaccines include corn, spinach, tobacco, lettuce, tomato, soybeans and potatoes. Plants may also be used to produce medical compounds for use in humans, such as monoclonal antibodies, hormones, or blood proteins." http://pewagbiotech.org/research/harvest/ Then we have the contraceptives: "Scientists have created the ultimate GM crop: contraceptive corn. Waiving fields of maize may one day save the world from overpopulation. The pregnancy prevention plants are the handiwork of the San Diego biotechnology company Epicyte, where researchers have discovered a rare class of human antibodies that attack sperm. By isolating the genes that regulate the manufacture of these antibodies, and by putting them in corn plants, the company has created tiny horticultural factories that make contraceptives. "We have a hothouse filled with corn plants that make anti-sperm antibodies," said Epicyte president Mitch Hein. "We have also created corn plants that make antibodies against the herpes virus, so we should be able to make a plant-based jelly that not only prevents pregnancy but also blocks the spread of sexual disease." Contraceptive corn is based on research on the rare condition, immune infertility, in which a woman makes antibodies that attack sperm." http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=63727&group=webcast Then we have a myriad of other bizarre combinations of genetic material that may show up in our environment or food. Weird food-gene combos defy imagination By Anita Manning, USA TODAY "Biotechnology researchers, heading off into uncharted worlds, may one day produce bacteria that detect land mines, fish that sniff out pollutants, and spider silk made from goat's milk. These are among the dozens of products biotech companies are developing, says a report out Thursday from the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology. "We wanted to look down the road five or 10 years to see what this technology is producing," says Mike Rodemeyer, executive director of the Pew Initiative. "It is a very powerful technology, and the report provides a lot of interesting examples of this. But at the same time, it's the power of this technology that is raising safety and environmental issues." Among the products highlighted: · Spider silk, one of the strongest natural materials, can be used in bulletproof vests, but it's hard to grow commercially. Researchers can now make it using a protein from goat's milk engineered with a spider gene. · Malaria-resistant mosquitoes and other insects that can't carry human diseases are being investigated, along with methods to control insect pests without using chemicals. · Bacteria that are genetically modified to be sensitive to TNT are being created for use in detecting explosives, including land mines. The bacteria contain a gene from jellyfish that creates a fluorescent glow, which changes color on contact with TNT. · Zebra fish are being engineered to act as biosensors for pollutants such as dioxin or PCBs. · Plants are being modified to produce vaccines and other pharmaceuticals and to provide extra nutrients. Rodemeyer says the Pew Initiative is neutral, but it wants to spur public debate over the future of biotechnology. One concern is how the government will regulate new products to assure safety, he says. One example is a new breed of "super-salmon," genetically modified to grow rapidly. The question, he says, is what impact would these fish have on native salmon if they were released into the wild? "We have a system put into place for products that predated biotechnology," he says, "not products that have the potential of replicating themselves in nature." Matt Rand of the National Environmental Trust echoes that. "We feel the U.S. government does not have the proper regulations in place to govern over these foods," he says. "They are entering the market and environment without the proper safety studies." But Val Giddings of the Biotechnology Industry Association sees no need for new regulations. "One of the great strengths of the regulatory system is that it can be adapted to ensure that we can enjoy the benefits of these products while keeping any risks under firm control." As for the threat of fast-growing salmon, Giddings says, that's a red herring:" http://www.usatoday.com/advertising/orbitz/orbitz-window.htm By the way, I wonder just how "neutral" the PEW Initiative is? Last Fall they had a very ambitious series of conferences on Food and Biotechnology throughout the U.S. http://pewagbiotech.org/calendar/ Interesting that Rockerfeller Foundation has also been supporting (3 million) this topic. www.netlink.de/gen/Zeitung/1999/991215e.htm Why do I say these products may show up in our cereal without our knowledge? Because at this time there are no regulations requiring U.S. companies to label food as GE (genetic engineered) or GM (genetic modified). AND There are already "Pharm" fields in our midst. Green Peace located one of API's secret fields last Fall. "Frankendrugs" with Human Genes Spliced into California Rice Fields OUTDOORS 'PHARMING' OF DRUGS RISKS CONTAMINATION London/Washington, 7th September, 2001 - "Open field trials of genetically engineered (GE) rice containing human genes are being carried out in the heart of the California's traditional rice growing region, according to Greenpeace. The experiment is being carried out to produce pharmaceuticals. Activists from the international environmental group marked out the field with giant syringes to highlight the risk of growing drug-producing GE crops outdoors. No special effort to protect the environment and the food chain had been made. The nature of all of the compounds produced by these GE rice plants in Sutter County has been kept secret from the public but Greenpeace has identified two of the proteins produced in them as human lactoferrin and human lysozyme, commonly found in human breast milk, bile and tears. 'There is just no excuse to allow drug producing crops to be grown out in the fields where they can contaminate the environment and food chain by spreading their genes to wild relative and to conventional crops growing near by. These pharmaceuticals can be produced in other ways. This rice and all the other GE pharm crops out there should be banned and permits for future open field trials must be revoked,' said Kimberly Wilson, Genetic Engineering Campaigner for Greenpeace USA. According to the information submitted by the company Applied Phytologics Incorporated (API) to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), eight of the nine compounds produced in its field trial come from humans, in other words from rice engineered with human genes. The USDA imposes virtually no safety requirements specific to pharmaceutical crops. Despite Greenpeace's demand both the company and the California Department of Food and Agriculture failed to act upon the risk. While the industry is already conducting open-air trials (1) of pharmaceutical rice, wheat, corn and barley, few regulations to protect public health and the environment are in place. The conventional rice at risk of GE contamination in California is exported mainly to Japan and Turkey. According to information available to Greenpeace, field trials with drug producing GE crops have been also taken place at least in Canada and France. Twenty companies world-wide are known to produce pharmaceutical through GE crops." http://www.organicconsumers.org/patent/frankendrugs090701.cfm OTHER REFERENCES: Debunking the Myths of Genetic Engineering in Field Crops http://www.oac.uoguelph.ca/www/CRSC/faculty/eac/myths.htm Pandora's Pantry http://www.motherjones.com/mother_jones/JF00/pandora.html General Information about Biotechnology Crops http://www.cast-science.org/biotc_ip.htm http://www.biotech.ubc.ca/db/bioethics/greenpeace.html Health Hazards of GM Foods http://www.soyinfo.com/haz/gehaz.shtml GE Crop Failure http://www.netlink.de/gen/Zeitung/1999/990713a.htm http://www.biotech-info.net/RR_yield_drag_98.pdf Really Stinky PR http://www.usatoday.com/news/healthscience/health/2001-09-06-weird-food-gene-usat.htm Phoenix : The Star Phoenix (Saskatoon, Canada) : May 18, 2002 : Farmer unveils location of secret GM wheat plots : Saskatchewan News Network; Regina Leader-Post : BY Michelle Lang : REGINA -- A Saskatchewan farmer is going public with the : locations of two secret sites where researchers are growing : and : testing genetically modified (GM) wheat for the biotech : company : Monsanto. : Marc Loiselle says there are test plots of GM wheat at : Agriculture Canada's Scott Research Farm, located in : west-central : Saskatchewan, and at Ag-Quest, a private company located just : outside of Saskatoon. : Monsanto confirmed Friday that Agriculture Canada and Ag-Quest : are conducting research trials on its GM wheat. Before : Loiselle's revelation, the exact location of Monsanto's many : GM : wheat plots was a closely guarded secret in Canada. Even the : Saskatchewan government didn't know exactly where the plots : were : located in the province. : In Europe, activists protesting biotechnology have destroyed : GM : research crops in recent years. : "Our No. 1 priority is to protect the integrity of : research and : the researchers," said Monsanto spokesperson Trish : Jordan. "It : is just a good responsible practice to follow certain : protocols : and one of those is not revealing the locations of these : trials." : Loiselle, an organic farmer from Vonda, learned the locations : from an agronomic committee that he sits on. He believes the : public has a right to know where the test sites are, so he : wrote : letters to the rural municipalities near the sites. He also : presented the information in speeches, in a newsletter : regarding : organic production and to the media. : "We don't need genetically engineered wheat for any : number of : reasons," he said. "Producers will tell you they do : not want : more Roundup Ready products. Two-thirds of the Canadian Wheat : Board customers do not want (GM wheat)." : Loiselle also argues GM wheat could ruin the organic wheat : market. He is one of several farmers who launched a lawsuit in : an attempt to prevent the commercial introduction of GM wheat : into Saskatchewan. : Officials with the Scott Research Farm have some concern about : the security of the research trials, referring to the : destruction : of the research plots in Europe. But Dr. David Wall said the : publication of the sites will not stop the research. He said : farm officials will monitor the sites. : There are 33 Western Canadian sites where Monsanto is testing : GM : wheat this year. Monsanto and its partners, like Ag-Quest, : place : strict controls on GM wheat research, Jordan said. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you want to continue to receive these messages, please subscribe. RuMills-subscribe@yahoogroups.com If you no longer wish to receive them, please unsubscribe! RuMills-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com SHOULD YOU OWN GOLD? "Gold will Surpass $1000 an ounce" CBS MarketWatch http://etools.ncol.com/a/jgroup/bg_wwwgoldcentralcom_rumormill_15..html ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Help Keep Rumor Mill News on the Web! BECOME A RMNEWS DONOR ANGEL http://www.rumormillnews.com/DONOR_PAGE.htm This website is AMAZING! Check it out! Find out anything, about anyone, online, using a new software program called PC Spy 2001! 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