More pharming violations reported
Federal regulators ordered the destruction of 155 acres of corn surrounding an Iowa test site where ProdiGene had grown corn that was genetically modified to express a pharmaceutical or industrial enzyme, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported today. The action is unrelated to USDA's quarantine of soybeans that were contaminated by pharming corn planted by ProdiGene that was disclosed Wednesday (see BioCentury Extra, Wednesday Nov. 13, 2002). ProdiGene declined to comment on the latest news.
USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) said it "discovered possible permit violations at a ProdiGene 2001 test site in Iowa in September 2002. Volunteer tasseled corn plants were found growing in a soybean field and in a pile of volunteer corn plants removed from the field earlier in the season -- both of which did not comply with permit conditions. At APHIS's request, and under APHIS supervision, ProdiGene has harvested and destroyed by incineration 155 acres of corn surrounding the field test site." ...