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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Paul Gepts, PhD, Department of Agronomy and Range Science, University of California, 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, 530-752-7743, plgepts@ucdavis.edu

Since the first discoveries in the early 1980s, crop genetic engineering has proceeded at a rapid pace. Today, in addition to crops engineered to be herbicide tolerant and insect-resistant, we have food crops genetically engineered to produce pharmaceuticals and industrial chemicals. These crops are referred to as “pharma” crops when they produce drugs, hormones, and other therapeutic agents, and industrial crops when they produce compounds such as plastics for use in industry. Pharmaceutical and industrial transgenes can inadvertently contaminate commodity crops through cross-pollination or through physical mixing of seed at various points in U.S. commodity crop production systems—including growing, harvesting, handling, storage, delivery, and processing of food and feed products. While there is a broad consensus that the transgene products of pharma crops must be kept segregated from human food and animal feed systems, it is difficult to prevent the commingling of these systems in the United States at the present time. This presentation will discuss the challenges to achieving a virtually zero contamination standard for protecting food and feed supplies from pharma crops.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, participants will be able to

• Identify the main routes by which pharma and industrial crops may contaminate food and feed crops.
• Discuss the merits of a “virtually zero” goal for contamination of the U.S. food supply by pharma crops.

Keywords: Food Safety, Environmental Health Hazards

Related Web page: www.ucsusa.org/food_and_environment/genetic_engineering/pharmaceutical-and-industrial-crops-a-growing-concern.html

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation