Biopharmaceutical Crops in Oregon

Biopharmaceutical (biopharm) crops are plants that have been genetically engineered to produce drugs. Types of medications they produce include growth hormones, blood thinners and clotting agents, vaccines, and birth control drugs, to name a few. While these crops offer the possibility of societal benefits, we are adamantly against their outdoor production where they are free to cross-pollinate with nearby fields, potentially contaminating our local, regional, and national food system. This practice presents a clear risk to both the public though being inadvertently exposed to experimental drugs as well as to the environment through cross breeding with native plants and bioaccumulation in animals.

Oregon PSR has raised much visibility around biopharming including introducing a bill in the 2005 state legislature. The bill passed the Senate, but not the House. However, it got so much response that the governor and Department of Agriculture appointed a committee to study the issue. It met for a year and came up with recommendations that have been written into proposed regulatory rules now under discussion. If the rules are approved they will give Oregon the strongest protection against contamination of any state in the country. However, they can be strengthened and we are working closely with the Oregon Department of Agriculture to accomplish this.

To learn more about biopharm crops in Oregon, review the many resource materials available on this page.

Senate Bill 570

Oregon PSR's Response to Task Force

Biopharm Fact Sheet

Biopharm Recommendations

Biopharm Rules Proposal

Biopharm Bill Questions & Answers