GM potato crops to produce vaccines
Date: 7.8.2006
University of Rostock scientists aim to plant three rows of the GM crop on 2,200m2 in Gross Luesewitz, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, over the next two years.
The scientists intend to grow one row of potatoes containing a non-toxic cholera protein that is already used as an auxiliary substance in immunisations against cholera and similar illnesses. They aim for a second row to produce elements of a vaccine against a type of rabbit disease. The third line will produce a special protein that could be used as a raw material in the chemical industry.
The Federal Office for Consumer Protection gave the go-ahead to produce up to 9,440 of the plants. It insists the tests are not dangerous to humans or the environment. It added that the plantation will be fenced to stop wild animals from eating or carrying off the crops and claims that, once the potatoes have been analysed, they will be destroyed.
German environmental protection organisation BUND blasted the project. It criticised it from an environmental point of view as well as asserting that genetically modified crops pose a threat to industry and jobs.
A spokesman for BUND said only around 500 jobs exist in the privately financed genetic-engineering sector compared to 150,000 jobs in the organic-farming sector.
"Source":[ http://www.checkbiotech.org/root/index.cfm?fuseaction=news&doc_id=13130&start=1&control=188&page_start=1&page_nr=101&pg=1]
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