'Biopharming' Set Back By Federal Court

A federal judge in Honolulu has ruled that the Department of Agriculture illegally allowed four seed companies to grow crops genetically modified to produce vaccines, hormones, and other drugs without considering the impact on endangered species and the environment.

U.S. District Court Judge for the District of Hawaii J. Michael Seabright found that USDA acted in "utter disregard" of the Endangered Species Act and also violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to conduct even preliminary investigations prior to its approval of the plantings. Rather than issuing an immediate remedy for the government's procedural violations, Seabright ordered the parties to appear in court on Aug. 22 to discuss options.

The Hawaiian Islands are home to 329 rare species, a quarter of all threatened and endangered species in the U.S., the judge noted in his Aug. 10 ruling.

The decision represents the first federal court ruling on biopharming, the controversial practice of genetically altering food crops to produce experimental drugs and industrial enzymes.

"This decision shows that regulatory oversight of this out-of-control industry has been woefully inadequate," says Paul H. Achitoff, an attorney with Earthjustice, an environmental law firm. "The agency entrusted with protecting human health and the environment from the impacts of genetic engineering experiments has been asleep at the wheel."

The four USDA-issued permits authorized Monsanto, ProdiGene, Garst Seed Company, and the Hawaii Agriculture Research Center to conduct open-air field tests of drug-producing corn and sugarcane at various sites in Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, and Maui from 2001 to 2003. Between 1991 and July 2005, more than 90 permits for pharmaceutical and industrial crops were issued in the U.S., according to USDA.