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Eat Your Spinach ... and That HIV Drug, Too

Apr 30, 2007

The UK's Guardian writes about pharmaceutical farming, or pharming, as the latest battle in the war surrounding public approval of genetically modified crops. Proponents argue that sticking human genes into plants to produce pharmaceuticals, such as how scientists in south London are using tobacco plants to produce the HIV drug cyanovirin-N, is no different than the decades-old technique of using bacteria. The difference is the potential of cross-contamination, or pharmed plants mixing with the natural food supply and vice versa.

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