A Growing Concern

The report concludes that current U.S. corn and soybean production systems cannot prevent the contamination of food and feed supplies by pharmaceutical and industrial crops without substantial modification. It identifies seed mixing and pollen flow as the primary contamination routes and argues that a "virtually zero contamination" standard is necessary. While theoretically possible through geographic isolation or strict biological and management controls, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) recommends an immediate halt to outdoor production of these crops in favor of non-food/feed crops, indoor cultivation, or fermentation systems.

• The existing structure of U.S. commodity corn and soybean production, which mixes grain from multiple sources, is incapable of protecting food and feed supplies from pharma crop contamination without significant changes.
• Contamination of commodity crops by pharmaceutical and industrial transgenes occurs primarily through two pathways: the physical mixing of seeds during production, harvest, storage, transport, and handling, and the movement of pollen during the growing year.
• The report adopts a "virtually zero contamination" standard, acknowledging that absolute zero contamination is impossible to achieve, and uses this benchmark to evaluate the adequacy of confinement systems.
• Achieving virtually zero contamination using corn and soybean would require a production system completely separate from the food/feed system, utilizing either geographic isolation zones or embedded production areas with strict spatial separation, biological confinement, and third-party monitoring.
• The authors suggest that using non-food/feed crops for pharmaceutical production is a more viable way to ensure food safety, provided they have safeguards such as sterility, low propagule viability, and no wild relatives.
• The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) recommends that the USDA immediately stop the outdoor production of genetically engineered pharma and industrial crops and instead fund alternatives like non-food/feed crops, indoor cultivation in secure greenhouses or caves, and fermentation or cell culture systems.

APA

Andow, D., Daniell, H., Gepts, P., Lamkey, K., Nafziger, E., & Strayer, D. (n.d.). A Growing Concern. Union of Concerned Scientists. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/pharma_exsum.pdf

Chicago

Andow, David, Henry Daniell, Paul Gepts, Kendall Lamkey, Emerson Nafziger, and Dennis Strayer. A Growing Concern. Union of Concerned Scientists, n.d. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/pharma_exsum.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Andow |first1=David |last2=Daniell |first2=Henry |last3=Gepts |first3=Paul |last4=Lamkey |first4=Kendall |last5=Nafziger |first5=Emerson |last6=Strayer |first6=Dennis |title=A Growing Concern |publisher=Union of Concerned Scientists |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/pharma_exsum.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{andowndgrowing, author = {Andow, David and Daniell, Henry and Gepts, Paul and Lamkey, Kendall and Nafziger, Emerson and Strayer, Dennis}, title = {{A Growing Concern}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/pharma_exsum.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }