Milk plan has anti-GE lobby group livid

A plan by Crown research institute AgResearch to create a herd of genetically modified cows to produce human health boosting proteins has been criticised by lobby group GE Free New Zealand.

AgResearch is partnering Dutch therapeutic protein developer Pharming Group with the goal of creating cows capable of producing recombinant human lactoferrin - a naturally occurring immune system boosting protein that may also aid bone regeneration and osteoporosis as well as fight cancer.

GE Free predicts "huge public opposition" saying the plan poses risks to human safety, animal welfare and New Zealand's international reputation.

GE Free spokeswoman Clare Bleakely said: "It is an outrage that AgResearch has not done due diligence by looking at safety studies on lactoferrin construct and appears to be hoping to escape through a loophole by putting it on the market as a supplement."

She added that factory farming of GE cows was inhumane and would damage New Zealand's international reputation.

Jimmy Suttie, AgResearch general manager applied biotechnologies, said Pharming was responsible for safety work, marketing and distribution.

"In terms of whether we've done due diligence the issue here is our partners [Pharming] have done, or are in the process of doing, all of that and they carry that risk."

Suttie said if the project was found to be unsafe it would be stopped.

He added AgResearch already operated transgenic cattle projects and held a public hearing on these about three years ago.

"At that time there was a huge amount of publicity and AgResearch went through the scientific, legal and public perception aspects of that and we gained the approvals to do the work," he said.

"So what we're actually seeing here is nothing that we haven't done before."

AgResearch says commercial production of human lactoferrin will need regulatory approval by the Environmental Risk Management Authority.

However it said testing to date had shown transgenic milk to be safe "even taken in large quantities".

Pharming has also begun registering the product with the US Food and Safety Administration, under the "generally recognised as safe" category.

Suttie said recombinant human insulin, injected by diabetics worldwide, was an example of a genetically modified organism used to produce a drug beneficial to humans.

The insertion of an extra gene will modify the genetic blueprint of cow embryos, which when born will be raised in a small herd at a secure containment facility.

Genetically modified bulls will mate with cows making calves that subsequently produce normal cows milk but with the extra human protein.

AgResearch chief executive Andy West said the organisation recognised "that genetic modification is of significant interest to the public and that we have a responsibility to inform the public of this sort of research and development."

He added the partnership was an important step forward for the biotechnology industry.

"Our partnership with Pharming NV provides this country with access to licensed transgenic technology [in animals] it would otherwise be denied."

The cow-produced human lactoferrin could be used in hospital food, infant formulae, sports supplements, oral care products and cancer medicine.

After safety approval Pharming will test the product in a worldwide market estimated to be worth about US$100 million ($149 million) for initial oral applications.

Transgenic milk production is expected to begin in about three years.

What is lactoferrin?

Lactoferrin is a milk whey protein that boosts the body's natural defences and could have wider medical benefits in treating bone regeneration, osteoporosis and fighting cancerous tumours.

Naturally occurring within the body, lactoferrin is associated with defensive white blood cells which fight viruses and bacterial infection.

Research unveiled by Auckland's Osteoporosis Research Group at the World Dairy Summit, held in Melbourne last November, found the milk protein boosted bone growth by four times the normal rate when injected directly into bone cells.

Osteoporosis affects about 200 million people globally.

Dairy companies, including Fonterra and Waikato-based Tatua, produce bovine lactoferrin from cows milk and sell it for about $500 a kilogram in Japan and Korea.

About 10,000 tonnes of milk are used in the production of each tonne of lactoferrin, with leftover milk re-used to make basic milk powder.

Fonterra head of health and nutrition Patrick Geals said last October that lactoferrin "will be to the dairy industry what aspirin has been to the pharmaceutical industry".