Judge Orders Hawaiian Locations of Biopharm Crops Revealed

HONOLULU, Hawaii, August 6, 2004 (ENS)

The U.S. Agriculture Department must disclose the Hawaiian locations of experimental crops that are genetically modified to grow pharmaceuticals, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
Chief Judge David Ezra agreed with the plaintiff Center for Food Safety, represented by the public interest law firm Earthjustice, that the locations of the so-called biopharm crops is not confidential proprietary business information.
The lawsuit was filed in federal district court in Honolulu in November 2003 asking the court to order the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to assess the environmental and public health risks of, and better regulate, the open air testing of biopharmaceutical crops in Hawaii and throughout the United States.
This is the first time in the United States that locations of biopharm tests will be revealed to an outside party. Similar disclosures in other states might follow for biopharm crops and possibly for all genetically modified crop research.
In Hawaii, Monsanto Co., the Hawaii Agriculture Research Center, ProdiGene Inc. and Garst Seed Co. have been granted permits to test biopharm crops.
Under Judge Ezra's order, the locations of the experimental fields will be disclosed to Earthjustice, which must keep the information confidential for at least 90 days.
Hawaii has more than 4,000 field test sites for genetically engineered crops, more than anywhere else in the world, including more than two dozen tests of biopharm crops, Earthjustice says.
Biopharm crops are genetically engineered to produce pharmaceuticals, industrial chemicals, and other medical and industrial products, including a blood clotting agent, a blood thinner, various blood proteins, experimental animal vaccines, industrial enzymes, antibodies, and a potent abortion-inducing compound once considered for use as an AIDS drug.
Earthjustice attorney Isaac Moriwake argued that none of these biopharm crops has been approved for human or animal consumption, or even for general release into the environment.
Yet the USDA allows these tests to be conducted in open fields, conceals the trialsí locations from the public, and in most cases refuses to disclose the substances being grown.
Moriwake says the tests use food crops like corn and soybeans, increasing the risk of contaminating the food or livestock feed supply with powerful, biologically active chemicals. The tests also pose a serious hazard to endangered plants and animals, of which Hawaii has more than any other state.