Secret test crops worry area farmers

By Scott Rothschild, Journal-World

Thursday, December 30, 2004

Topeka — Dan Nagengast, who farms organically south of Clinton Lake, said he feared that a storm could carry pollen from an experimental crop and contaminate other crops and get into the food supply.

"We're in tornado alley," Nagengast noted during a meeting of farmers, agribusiness lobbyists and state officials. "I would feel a lot better off if several people at the Department of Agriculture knew where some of these sites were."

But the location of experimental crops is secret under federal law to protect businesses' proprietary interests, state officials said.

Even so, agribusiness lobbyists downplayed the risk of cross-pollination between bioengineered crops and traditional crops.

"It's not this sci-fi stuff," said Jere White, executive director of the Kansas Corn Growers Assn. and Kansas Grain Sorghum Producers Assn. "These aren't, for the most part, some bizarre new creatures out there."

Permit information shows that experimental fields in Kansas have been for disease resistant plants. There have been no test crops for bioengineered plants for the pharmaceutical industry, White said. Rules require that the fields be surrounded by buffer zones and the fields must either be destroyed before pollination or contain sterile plants, he said.

Kansas Agriculture Secretary Adrian Polansky said he was confident Kansas was safe from any kind of cross-pollination contamination.

"I am satisfied that appropriate oversight is given to the process," he said.

Polansky added that three state agriculture department employees would be trained soon by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to oversee such experimental situations.

As the growing of experimental plants and crops continue to increase, Polansky said, he wanted the state to be active helping the federal government in oversight.

"As a state we produce a lot of food. It would probably behoove us to be as involved as we can be," he said.

The meeting also addressed a federal draft proposal on voluntary guides for the planting of new plant varieties intended for food use.

The guides are intended to prevent material from new plant varieties from getting into the food supply before they gain the necessary approval, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The group seemed satisfied with the proposal but said the federal government needed to delineate more clearly the responsibilities among the various federal agencies involved in overseeing bioengineered crops.