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USA Rice Federation Comments Say “No!” to Ventria’s Kansas Rice Venture

Monday, April 2, 2007
Posted in Genetic Engineering | Tagged Genetic Engineering

USA Rice Federation today filed comments with the U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s Animal Plant Health Inspection service (APHIS) asking “in
the strongest possible terms that the permit for Ventria [Bioscience]’s
pharmaceutical rice be denied.” Ventria is seeking USDA approval for
growing non-food rice bioengineered to contain the human proteins
lysozyme, lactoferrin and recombinant human serum albumin.

“If Ventria’s pharmaceutical rice were to escape into the commercial
rice supply, the financial devastation to the U.S. rice industry would
likely be absolute,” the USA Rice comments say. “There is no tolerance,
either regulatory or in public perception, for a human gene-based
pharmaceutical to end up in the world’s food supply.”

The USA Rice biotechnology policy supports the development of
genetically modified rice varieties, but does not support their
commercial release prior to scientific-based regulatory approval and
consumer acceptance (i.e., no negative impact on commercial sales of
U.S. rice).

“While APHIS may base its decision on the stringency of its permit
controls and not on market and financial considerations, it is still
negligent for the agency to risk an entire industry for the sake of
profit for one company,” the USA Rice comments say. “Already, the USA
Rice Federation is receiving complaints from the public that are
confusing the Ventria permit with the latest Liberty Link rice issue and
assuming the worst.”

The USA Rice comments call for a set of actions prior to the
consideration of approval for Ventria BioScience’s pharmaceutical rice:
- “Because of no assurance or confidence that Ventria pharmaceutical
rice can be kept separate from commercial food and feed rice, we believe
that USDA must engage FDA in a risk analysis and risk assessment of the
potential health affects that could occur when genetic material from the
pharmaceutical rice is eventually found in commercial rice.”
- “APHIS should conduct a full Environmental Impact Statement concurrent
with FDA’s analysis.”
- “Further production of Ventria’s pharmaceutical rice should not occur
in the U.S. until, at a minimum, the FDA and APHIS have concluded the
studies, assuming the agencies determine that there are no potential
health effects.”

The full text of the USA Rice comments on the Ventria Biosciences
proposal to grow pharmaceutical rice in Kansas is posted on the USA Rice
Web site.
<http://www.usarice.com/industry/communication/factsheets.html>

USA Rice Federation is the national advocate for all segments of the
rice industry, conducting activities to influence government programs,
developing and initiating programs to increase worldwide demand for U.S.
rice, and providing other services to increase profitability for all
industry segments.