Missouri considers Ban on Local Regulations for Genetically Modified Crops
The state of Missouri can certainly be called the “BioBelt.”
For years, the state has been among the leading planters and producers of genetically modified cotton, soybeans, and corn in the United States. These fields have yielded over 300 million pounds of genetically modified crops a year and have helped to increase the net income for farmers across the state to over $114 million a year, according to various reports.
Missouri has also served for decades as the headquarters for some of the leading agricultural biotechnology and life sciences corporations in the world, including Monsanto, as well as the home to several emerging scientific research facilities like the Donald Danforth Plant Sciences Center, the NIDUS Center for Scientific Enterprise, and the Biotechnology Development Center of Greater Kansas City. These companies and research facilities employ tens of thousands of people in good paying jobs and represent a total direct and indirect annual economic impact of over $10 billion.
In addition, a number of universities in Missouri, including Washington University in St. Louis, Saint Louis University, and the University of Missouri-Columbia, have invested more than $360 million in the research and development of new technologies in the plant and life sciences, as well as in local and regional biotechnology developments, according to reports.
In April 2005, Missouri Governor Matt Blunt formed the Governor’s Advisory Council for Plant Biotechnology, a nine member panel made up of state, industry, and academic leaders to discuss efforts to make the state a fertile place for new biotechnology companies and enterprises. Earlier this year, the group backed the governor’s Lewis and Clark Discovery Initiative, a proposal that, in addition to aiding universities across the state, would set aside $5 million to attract and retain life science and biotech companies and to commercialize existing genetically modified crop and plant pharmaceutical research already being conducted in the state.
Missouri’s biotech efforts had a slight setback earlier this year when Ventria Bioscience, a California based biopharmaceutical company withdrew from plans to move its facilities to Maryville, Missouri. Ventria was collaborating with Northwest Missouri State University on a project that would cultivate rice containing human genes for growing proteins that could treat ailments such as diarrhea and dehydration affecting people in developing nations around the world. Delays in state financing prompted the company to drop these plans.
Despite this, the state continues to move forward in its biotech efforts. Recently, the Missouri Senate Agriculture Committee approved a bill that would give the state responsibility for the “regulation, labeling, sale, storage, and planting of seeds.” The bill would also bar local governments and the state from adopting regulations that exceed federal requirements. A similar bill is pending in the Missouri House.
The need for this bill rose out of concern that Missouri would risk falling behind its neighboring states in the race to attract agricultural industries and biotech research should local governments enact more restrictive regulations. Currently, half of the states bordering Missouri have adopted or are considering bans on local regulations.
As a Missouri native, I have had a genuine interest in the state’s position regarding the issue of biotechnology and genetically modified foods for years. I firmly believe that Missouri is sending a clear cut message to the rest of the United States that it is open to biotechnology though its efforts thus far as well as through this current legislation. Missouri should be commended for its continuous work in supporting biotechnology, attracting new biotech enterprises, and encouraging innovative research on genetically modified foods by companies, research facilities, and universities throughout the “Show-Me” state.
