Lysobac Green Is People!

The US Department of Agriculture recently approved the first human gene-containing commercial crops:
three strains of rice, engineered by California-based biotech company Ventria, that are spliced with genes coding for immune system proteins.

The plants are intended to be biological factories rather than actual dietary fare, with proteins extracted from the harvest and then added to medicine or food.

Many issues are contested here -- health, economics, intellectual property, safety, superstition -- and as experts chime in, we'll discuss them more in depth. For starters, Ventria has claimed that stray rice won't contaminate other crops. Such purity has so far been difficult to accomplish with other genetically engineered rice strains.

When Fred Zaunbrecher heard in August that the popularvariety of long-grain rice he was planning to grow had becomecontaminated with snippets of experimental, unapproved DNA, theLouisiana rice farmer took it in stride and ordered a different varietyof seed for his spring planting.

But when federal officials announced last week that the rice he andmany others switched to was also contaminated -- this time with adifferent unapproved gene -- irritation grew to alarm. The twosidelined varieties accounted for about a third of last year's Southernrice crop, and planting was set to begin within days.

"Everybody's been scrambling for seed," Zaunbrecher said. "I have no idea whether there will be enough or not."

Rice Industry Troubled by Genetic Contamination [ Washington Post]