ProdiGene officials could be sent to jail if government finds violations 

Thu Nov 14, 7:21 PM ET
By EMILY GERSEMA, Associated Press Writer 

WASHINGTON - Officials at a biotechnology company face a possible
one-year jail term if the U.S.  government finds they broke  laws
when  genetically engineered corn contaminated two soybean crops,
the Agriculture Department said.  

The department has been  meeting  with  attorneys  for  ProdiGene
Inc.,  of College Station,  Texas,  to discuss possible penalties
for the incidents in  Iowa  and  Nebraska,  Cindy  Smith,  deputy
administrator  for  USDA's  Animal  and  Plant  Health Inspection
Service, said Thursday.  

ProdiGene may have  violated  the  Plant  Protection  Act,  which
regulates   the   transportation   and  planting  of  genetically
engineered plants.  Federal inspectors found a  soybean  crop  in
Iowa  and another in Nebraska were contaminated with experimental
corn and took steps to ensure it did not taint the food supply.  

The government ordered ProdiGene to burn 155 acres (62  hectares)
of  the  contaminated  crop in Iowa in September after inspectors
found stray biotech corn plants growing in the field.  A  similar
incident occurred in Nebraska in October.  

The Food and Drug Administration (news -  web sites)  ordered the
company Wednesday to destroy 500,000  bushels  of  soybeans  that
have  been  under quarantine in a Nebraska grain elevator because
of contamination.  

Under the law,  the government can order a violator to pay a fine
that  is twice the value of the damaged crops,  or up to $500,000
for each case.  Smith said corporate officers responsible for the
violations also could face criminal penalties of up to  one  year
in jail.  

The  Nebraska  crop  is valued at $2.7 million.  The Agricultural
Department did not have a value for the Iowa crop.  

Anthony G.  Laos,  president and CEO of ProdiGene,  said the Iowa
incident   "has   been   fully  resolved"   to  the  government's
satisfaction.  But USDA spokesman Jim Rogers said  the  Iowa  and
Nebraska  cases  are now being viewed as a single proceeding that
has not been resolved.  

The company has not disclosed what substance  was  in  the  corn.
USDA's Smith said because of confidentiality rules, she could not
confirm  what  substance  officials  feared  might taint the food
supply.  

Laos said the biotech corn — part of a test crop — that is  at  the
center  of  the investigation contains DNA from a protein that is
not toxic.  He said the protein "addresses  persistent  digestive
health conditions." 

The ProdiGene incidents frustrated the food industry,  which said
Thursday that  biotech  companies  need  to  change  which  crops
they've chosen for making drugs and industrial products.  

Until  the  government  and  companies have proven that the crops
won't taint food,  "we strongly  urge  the  biotech  industry  to
direct  its  substantial research capabilities into investigating
the use of nonfood crops for the development of pharmaceuticals,"
said Karil Kochenderfer,  director for new  technologies  at  the
Grocery Manufacturers of America.  

Environmental groups critical of the biotech industry contend the
incidents should have been handled better and are seeking tougher
federal regulations.  

"ProdiGene  should certainly be punished for this reckless lapse,
but let us not forget that the USDA has  irresponsibly  continued
to  allow  drugs  and  industrial chemicals to be engineered into
food crops," said Mark Helm, a spokesman for Friends of the Earth
(news - web sites).  "It has to stop." 

Helm said the  government  should  ban  open-air  cultivation  of
plants  designed to contain pharmaceuticals so they won't be able
to contaminate other crops.  

On  the  other  side,   Lisa  Dry,   a   Biotechnology   Industry
Organization spokeswoman, said that while the ProdiGene incidents
have  hurt  the industry,  the government has the rules needed to
block contaminated soybeans from entering the food supply.  

"The regulations that are in place were  designed  to  stop  this
from  happening,"   she  said,  calling  the  Nebraska  and  Iowa
incidents a matter of noncompliance with the rules.  "The company
did not follow the regulations." 

Dry said the ProdiGene case is very different from StarLink  —  an
unapproved variety of corn that tainted the food supply two years
ago.  "This was the antithesis of StarLink because with StarLink,
it wasn't caught."