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> Sign the USDA Petition
> Background Information
> UCS Position Paper
> Position Paper Q&A
> Protect Our Food Home

UCS Comments
>USDA Environmental Impact Statement
>Kansas Pharma Rice
>Washington Pharma Safflower

Related Features
>Sensible Pharma Crops Slideshow
>Pharma/Industrial Crops in Your State
>Pharma/Industrial Crop Substances
>How Can Contamination Occur?
>Commercial Pharma Crop Products

Related UCS Reports
>The Economics of Pharmaceutical Crops
>A Growing Concern

News
>USDA Proposed Changes to GE Oversight
>Rice Report Shows Contamination Risk
>Food Industry on Pharma/Industrial Crops
>Companies Ramp up Pharma Production
>Lax Oversight of Pharma/Industrial Crops


 


Imagine food crops genetically engineered to produce drugs
and industrial chemicals.

Now imagine them mixed in with your food.

Sign the petition Read the position paper Check the database

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) allows drug and biotechnology companies to engineer corn and other food crops into pharmaceutical and industrial chemical "factories." The developers of these crops hope to reduce the cost of producing drugs and industrial chemicals. However, UCS analysis and independent experts agree that if food crops such as corn and soybeans are used for this purpose, they are very likely to contaminate the food supply with untested drugs and chemicals and pose serious human health and environmental risks for years to come.

The USDA is now considering changes to its regulation of genetically engineered (GE) crops, including so-called pharma/industrial crops. The food industry, farming and public health organizations, and many others have joined UCS in calling for a ban on the outdoor production of pharma/industrial food crops. Click here to read UCS's comments to USDA on its proposed regulatory changes (pdf).

You can help protect our food by signing UCS's petition to the USDA today!