Drug-producing GM corn to be grown in California despite lack of evidence showing safety

Thursday, February 25, 2016 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
Tags: GM corn, safety testing, biotechnology

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(NaturalNews) Absent even a shred of science-based evidence showing it to be safe, a new variety of genetically modified (GM) pharmaceutical "corn" awaits its planting somewhere in Central California, where authorities have agreed to allow a San Luis Obispo-based biotechnology company to grow it in the open air without any safety testing.

A clear act of ecoterrorism against the local agriculture system, the Applied Biotechnology Institute's (ABI) expected planting of GM corn near Lockwood has generated a chorus of outrage within the local community. Like every other GMO in existence, ABI's GM corn, which produces an enzyme known as trypsin that is found naturally in animals, has the potential to contaminate nearby crops and unleash an agricultural apocalypse.

There is so much opposition to the crop that ABI has decided to plant it in secret at an undisclosed location, where those with enough bravery to uproot or otherwise destroy it won't have the chance. And the county's agricultural advisory committee sees nothing wrong with the effort, which it speciously likens to growing natural corn.

According to the obviously pro-GMO Monterey County Weekly (MCW), John Howard, president of ABI, plans to grow the GM corn for the purpose of harvesting the synthetic trypsin and turning it into a product known as "TrypZean." TrypZean will supposedly replace the natural trypsin added to vaccines, insulin and various other modalities of pharmaceutical quackery.

"TrypZean is meant to be a plant-based substitute for trypsin," explains MCW.

Monterey County ag official declares GM corn safe because, well, it just is

Though ABI has spent some 20 years developing the plant, it has yet to be pored over with a fine-toothed comb to look for any possible threats to other organisms. Instead, Monterey County Assistant Agricultural Commissioner Bob Roach simply declared it to be, based on the fact that corn pollen in general "doesn't travel very far."

"There are no wild plants that could be cross-pollinated by corn, and no one's growing any corn around here," stated Roach to MCW. "This project is well suited to be the first commercial planting of a bio-engineered plant in Monterey County. There's very little risk of any kind of harm. It's a non-food crop that's producing a valuable substance."

Roach's simplistic dismissal of any potential safety threats glosses over the fact that pollen can still be carried by bees, butterflies and pollinators to other fields, sometimes at relatively large distances. And the Lockwood area just happens to be both rural and agricultural, which means other food crops are, indeed, threatened by GM corn plantings.

In a piece published by Grist late last year, the topic of pollen travel from GMO fields was discussed at length, revealing that the unpredictability of nature can facilitate pollen movement at great distances. A thunderstorm can generate large updrafts that carry pollen hundreds of miles away, stated one grain farmer, noting that he is routinely informed of pollen traveling several miles from the field.

"Expecting corn DNA to stop hustling around the gene pool once it's been genetically engineered makes as much sense as expecting teenagers to become celibate once they get smartphones," wrote Nathanael Johnson.

With this in mind, the prospect of just throwing a bunch of untested corn kernels down smack-dab in the middle of California's Central Valley, the bread basket of America, is absolutely insane. And yet this is exactly what will happen in the very-soon future if the People don't figure out a way to stop it.

"I am alarmed and very concerned that all it takes to grow a GMO crop in Monterey County is a permit from the county's Ag Commissioner's office," wrote one MCW commenter.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.montereycountyweekly.com

http://science.naturalnews.com