Tech | October 10, 2008 | 32 comments

USDA biotech regulations on "pharma" crops could allow drugs in food

source: http://www.ucsusa.org/news/commentary/usda-biotech-regulations-0148.html

Image
JanforGore
The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) today denounced newly proposed U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) rules governing genetically engineered crops, including food crops engineered to produce pharmaceutical and industrial products. The proposed rules, UCS charged, would not protect the U.S. food supply from potential contamination by drugs from "pharma" crops, and could allow drugs that it deems "safe" to enter the food supply. This contamination could occur through cross-pollination or seed mixing between pharma food crops and crops intended for consumption.

The USDA ignored recommendations for a ban on the outdoor production of pharma food crops from the Grocery Manufacturers Association, major food companies, UCS, and more than 100 environmental, agricultural, health, and consumer organizations.

Below is a statement by Jane Rissler, UCS's Food and Environment Program deputy director:

"Under the proposed rules, USDA's new motto is 'Only safe levels of drugs in U.S. food.' If these proposals are enacted into law, American consumers must accept the possibility of drugs in their breakfast cereal or other common foods. Moreover, these rules likely will lead to contamination scares, which will hurt the food industry.

"The USDA proposal, unlike the ban we recommended, offers no incentives to drug companies to pursue already existing, safer methods for producing drugs.

"In its rush to enact the proposed rules into law before the end of the Bush administration, the USDA has given short shrift to public participation. The department is allowing only 45 days for the public to analyze and comment on this major proposal, which will determine the government's approach to regulating genetically engineered organisms for years to come.

"The proposed rules also overhaul the existing regulatory system for genetically engineered crops other than pharma crops. Some of the proposed changes represent steps in the right direction such as making the regulatory program more coherent and comprehensive, expanding the scope of genetically engineered organisms subject to government oversight, and allowing the department to consider impacts on public health."



For UCS's Web feature profiling innovative biotechnology companies that are developing drugs more safely, go to

http://ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture/solutions/sensible_pharma_crops/sensible-....



For the location of pharma crops that have been grown outdoors across the country, go to

http://go.ucsusa.org/food_and_environment/pharm/index.php?s_keyword=XX.
_________________________
Here we go again.
  1. groups:
    News and Politics,   Tech,   Green,   Earth and Science,   3 more
  2. tags:
    News and Politics,  Green,  Tech,  Earth and Science,  16 more
  3. recommended by:
    goldenways,
    Vierotchka
  4.     
    |

32 comments // USDA biotech regulations on "pharma" crops could allow drugs in food

  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • How Monsanto Really Makes GMOs

      And now courtesy of theiri pharmaceutical company friends you will get a helping of drugs to go with it.

      Natural? HELL NO.

    • 3 years ago
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • Well, I will demonize GM crops as a whole because there is REASON to which has been outlined on this site in the Monsanto tag. Perhaps you should read up on them to understand why. There is nothing natural about what they do. You sound like a Monsanto plant to me.

    • 3 years ago
  • cmalberg
    • 0
      cmalberg  

    • It's all well and good to assume that such changes would help the situation. Yes, Monsanto makes a disgusting profit from there sterile seeds. However, they also employ many workers for everything from distribution to development. At this point, it seems to be a price that we are willing to pay. When, as a world wide culture, we reject this, then you will see the change you want, but no sooner.

      Also, I find it interesting that you bring up the price of corn seed. I have lived in a rural area all my life and have seen prices fluctuate for various reasons. I'm sure you would find that this most recent increase is due to the increased demand for corn and other biofuel producing crops such as soy. We no longer care about feeding our people, but rather our addiction to (cheap) gasoline.

      Back on topic, I do find this to be a very interesting and concerning post, but I feel that we should refrain from demonizing GM crops as a whole. Radicals on either side of the fence do not lead to solutions. Do I think this is wrong? Emphatically, yes. Do I think that all cases of genetic modification are wrong? No. When it comes to adding higher iron counts to rice to help prevent animia, for example, this technology can be very beneficial. That said, there is a huge difference between increasing the level of natural substances and promoting the production of unnatural pharmacological agents.

    • 3 years ago
  • darkhorsejim
    • 0
      darkhorsejim  

    • Who's to say this isn't already taking place. Africa, then Europe & finally the U.S. used to be the testing grounds for marketable drugs. Now, Big Pharma is getting into the very profitable food industry. Shop local if you can & go organic whenever possible. This is the only immediate power we have as unified customers for safe sustenance. I've found this link to be very helpful & a good place to research shopping options: www.localharvest.org . Replace Happy meals with Healthy meals!

    • 3 years ago
  • csmonut
    • 0
      csmonut  

    • Jan...once again, thank you for keeping us all informed.
      I emailed my senators and congressmen, giving them the web address and a short paragraph, and asked them to do a little research and stop this insanity!
      We can do little except grow our own food.
      I sincerely believe Baby Bush is out to destroy the people, because the people think he's an idiot.

    • 3 years ago
  • Reverend_Papa_Bear
  • pokesmot
  • chunche
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • Um, GM does not allow many farmers to produce more economically... do you know what Monsanto did to alleviate the 'food crisis?' They RAISED their price on a bag of corn seed to $100.00 and raised the price of their toxic Roundup that must be sprayed on that seed as well. And if they really cared about feeding people they would allow farmers to RESEED instead of having to buy NEW seed every year. How is that helping a food crisis in places where poor farmers cannot afford to buy new seed and poisons every year?

      It is only about profit to them and to the FDA and USDA.Their food is not feeding people in places where food is needed because people are also rejecting it when they know about it, and yields have not proven to be higher on the whole in many of these places, which is one reason why farmers in India have been committing suicide.

      And at what price a higher yield? People get so into that word and forget that it is WHAT is being yielded that we must be concerned about. I would rather have normal yields with natural food than higher yields with GM that potentially bring cancers, allergies, and other diseases that have been just pushed out into the world without us knowing about their effects. And actually, yields on the whole that have been reported over the last couple years have pretty much remained steady with either organic or GM crops.... there is no huge yield difference reported, and I think I even posted about that here in the tag marked Monsanto.

      We already have enough food to feed the world. What we need are the mechanisms to get the World Bank, WTO, and governments to stop holding it back from the poor in lieu of pushing this GM crap to raise tariffs. We do not NEED GM food to feed this world. We need compassion and political will.

    • 3 years ago
  • cmalberg
    • 0
      cmalberg  

    • The problem with this is not the fact that they are genetically modified. What we must remember is that, realistically, we have been eating GM crops since the first controlled breeding. Are they as healthy or even taste as good as organic? For the most part, the answer is a resounding no. What GM does for us, however, is allow us to produce a larger harvest much more economically, something this world desperately needs in this time of food shortages and high prices. I support organic, but it this point it is too price constrictive. Perhaps some program to encourage organic farming?

      That said, I do find it disheartening that the FDA feels that any amount, however minute, of any drug is "safe to consume" on a possibly regular basis. There does need to be much tighter control on the production of GM crops. I don't feel like being "medicated" every time I cook my dinner. Odds are the FDA wouldn't even require disclosure of what the drug contaminate is.

    • 3 years ago
  • Vierotchka
  • Reverend_Papa_Bear
  • futurehempfarmer
    • 0
      futurehempfarmer  

    • A lot of crops unfortunately are grown with pesticides integrated into the actual plants dna. For less work on the farmers part. I've got an idea, "Try growing organic for a change." Now it's evolved from that to this, unbelievable.

    • 3 years ago
  • krush_productions
  • cheller1820
  • Vierotchka
  • JanforGore
  • 3oc
  • HolyCity2012
  • IMMININT
    • 0
      IMMININT  

    • Support your local organic farmers !

      Commercialized farming is the end of health and beginning of cancers we've never imagined.

    • 3 years ago
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • I agree... and their "trials" with their sign "not safe for human consumption" (which tells you something right there) won't stop a bee from flying to a pharma crop trial and cross pollinating a gene or bacteria or other organism from it onto a food crop miles away. As the video states tests are not being conducted on this and they cannot prove it is safe. They have let the genie out of the bottle and we are all the guinea pigs.

    • 3 years ago
  • NeoDotCom
    • 0
      NeoDotCom  

    • Wow
      I really have to say this scares the shit out of me

      I just think these people are the spawn of satan and are opening pandoras box experimenting with things they have no control over

    • 3 years ago
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • Wow, even companies have stood up to GM pharma crops, and rightfully so. They would not know if a gene from a pharma crop grown outdoors was cross-pollinated with a food crop... (and neither would the bee or bees that pollinated it which is also of concern to the health of the bees) and the effects that could have on what is then in their products which could definitely hurt their profits. As you can see from this article and the video, people will not purchase foods produced from GMOS when aware of it, hence the secrecy by Monsanto et al., the pharmaceutical companies growing these pharma crops in trials, and the USDA and FDA. This in my opinion is a fraudulent deception against the American people of immense proportions.

    • 3 years ago
  • JanforGore
  • JanforGore
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • Islands at Risk: Genetic Engineering in Hawaii

      And make no mistake about it; The USDA is in league with the pharmaceutical companies that are in league with Monsanto, Syngenta, DOW, etc.

      These companies are destroying the beauty and biodiversity of our planet. As the woman in the beginning of this video asks: Who is playing God here?

    • 3 years ago
  • keviar
    • 0
      keviar  
    • JanforGore:

      They just think its unmoral. Its unmoral to deny the benefit of genetic modification. The point this article is making is that we could see drugs in our daily usage of agriculture which could detriment the health of the people.

      It could be that there religious, but that should not stop scientific advancement like it did in the 16th century (flat world)

    • 3 years ago
  • JanforGore
  • onechance
  • huntre
  • JanforGore
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  
    • Image

    • This is a report from four years ago about the threat of growing pharma crops outdoors and the dangers of transgenic contamination of crops being grown to be used as food. And once again the USDA ignores the warnings, and now this is slated to go full scale. There is only a 45 day comment period regarding this. I will try to post the site to send those comments to if you choose to do so.

      The absolute immensity of what is going on behind our backs in this country is mind boggling. As far as I am concerned the fact that they are genetically modified is already enough of a threat; because now not only will you need to be concerned about the health effects of the GMO itself, but if it cross pollinates with a pharma crop besides the effects of the pesticides and herbicides sprayed on it!

    • 3 years ago
more from Tech:
from the community

top videos