June 20, 2003

from The Casper Star Tribune via Checkbiotech.org
Denver (AP)

Time has run out for a French company to plant the state's first crop designed for use in medicine.

Meristem Therapeutics obtained the federal and state permits to grow the genetically engineered crop too late in the planting season and has canceled its plans, company spokesman Emmanuel Boures said Tuesday.

About 90 percent of the corn seed is in Colorado furrows by the third week of May, said Jim Miller, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Agriculture.

Miller said fall freezes keep the growing season short and corn requires 90 to 99 days to sprout, grow and ripen for harvest.

Some farmers and environmentalists opposed Meristem's plan to grow 30 acres of the corn in Phillips County. They said the genetically engineered plants could contaminate other crops. The corn would contain a protein, lipase, that would be used in an experimental drug researchers hope will help patients with cystic fibrosis.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture gave preliminary approval to Meristem's plans this spring. The state technically could not have blocked the planting after the federal agency approved it, but added conditions before giving its blessing.

The state insisted that its inspectors be allowed to accompany USDA officials on visits to the site. The state also wanted to be allowed to visit the cornfield without warning.

The site of the field wasn't revealed Boures said Meristem, which is growing a plot of the drug-producing corn in France this year, will pursue the program in the United States next year. He did not specify Colorado as the site.