Farming Area Residents Calmly Await First Open-Air Test of Altered Bacteria

Perry Continente knelt by some scrawny vegetation clumped in one of his otherwise empty, gray-brown fields. “These are some pretty sad strawberry plants,” he mused. “Planted too late in the season.”

Too late for producing good strawberries, perhaps. But these plants are not being cultivated for their fruit. They are the latest candidate crop nominated by scientists for a landmark event: the first planned and authorized open-air release of genetically altered bacteria.

Unless it is stopped in court, the test by Oakland-based Advanced Genetic Sciences probably will begin in mid-April. The University of California, which originally developed the bacteria, has scheduled its own test on potato plants at its agricultural field station in Tulelake, Calif., in May.

The altered bacteria are designed as a living pesticide, tentatively trade-named Frostban, that may be able to save farmers millions of dollars in frost damage annually by discouraging the growth of natural bacteria that hasten the formation of frost.

There also is a slight chance the altered bacteria may have some unforeseen and unwanted side effects, and a much better chance that the test will hasten other--and some fear potentially more dangerous--genetically engineered products to the market.

For these reasons, two other tests of so-called “ice-minus” bacteria--in Castroville and Tulelake--were blocked last year by environmentalists, helped by local activists.

Indeed, Monterey County supervisors, who blocked the test near Castroville, are scheduled to vote in May on a trial land-use ordinance that would restrict the location of any future biotechnology test in the county. Environmentalists said the ordinance would be the first such local law in the country, but state officials have warned the county that it may be overstepping its authority.

However, residents of Brentwood, the small Contra Costa County town closest to the test, apparently have no objections--none have come forward publicly, at least--and the California Farm Bureau, Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors and Brentwood City Council all unanimously support the project.

“Honestly, I have yet to receive one phone call or one piece of literature from anyone” unhappy with the test, said Continente, who consented to let the biotechnology firm use one of his fallow bell-pepper fields for the test. “No one locally seems to be concerned.”

This has encouraged some to speculate that the test may finally go ahead--although environmentalists from outside the area pledge to try to stop it.

The test itself will consist of two applications of Frostban 10 days apart, said John Bedbrook, vice president of Advanced Genetic Sciences. The material consists of the common Pseudomona syringae bacterium genetically altered to remove the trait that makes it hasten the formation of ice crystals in cold and damp weather. If the altered bacterium can temporarily crowd out its naturally occurring cousins, it might protect crops at temperatures as low as 23 degrees Farenheit.

Controlled Pattern

Had it been available last week, for example, the product may have softened the severe frost damage that hammered the Georgia peach crop for the third year in a row.

It will be applied here with hand sprayers in a tightly controlled pattern under specified weather conditions, Bedbrook explained, to prevent the bacteria from drifting out of the test area.

Monitors will be set up this week to establish background levels of the naturally occurring form of the bacteria. The same monitors will be used to detect migration of altered bacteria once the test begins.

After three weeks, several strawberry plants will be removed to Oakland for further testing; the remainder will be burned on site. The soil will be tested after three months for residual altered bacteria; if any are found, the ground will be fumigated. The test should not affect nearby commercial fruit, nut and vegetable growers.

“It’s a small experiment . . . seeking primarily to determine if under field conditions we can establish a colony and provide frost protection,” Bedbrook said.

Critics Called ‘Cynical’

Bedbrook denied assertions by others in the field that the field experiment is being conducted too late in the season and at too low an altitude to supply accurate frost-fighting data. These critics, speaking anonymously, suspect the test is intended in part at least to satisfy the company’s investors. Bedbrook said such speculation is “too cynical to comment on.”

“We are confident we can do a decent efficacy experiment, as long as it is done in the spring months,” he said. “It’s not going to be the perfect test, but we feel we can get decent data out of it.”

Residents of Brentwood, 50 miles east of San Francisco, in any case appear unconcerned.

“People around here are familiar enough with regulations on pesticides and chemicals that they don’t feel concerned about the application,” said Ed Myer of the county Agriculture Department. “They know the amount of time that went into permitting (of the test) and probably have faith in the system.”

A series of public meetings on the subject last month seem to have answered any questions or concerns residents may have had, he said. The area, like many others in the state, has already experienced field tests of new pesticides and other agricultural products, including other “living pesticides” composed of unaltered bacteria.

Normal for Farmers

“Anyone involved in farming has seen so much of it (testing), I cannot see why people get so bent out of shape about it,” said Continente, a 27-year-old vegetable grower who was introduced to Advanced Genetics when he cooperated in some tests on a corn field last year.

“To be honest,” Myer said, “I haven’t had a single person come into the office to ask about this. From that, I assume that people know all they think they need to know, or want to know.”

Opponents of the test are undeterred by such assessments. One environmental group in Berkeley, Earth First, has said it will go door-to-door in Brentwood trying to build local opposition.

Other groups have threatened legal action to challenge a variety of things, from the need for a full Environmental Impact Report to the level of liability insurance carried by Advanced Genetic Sciences.

A leading opponent of the budding biotechnology industry, Jeremy Rifkin of Washington, said he plans to ask state and federal officials to stop the test. However, the federal Environmental Protection Agency already has approved the experiment, and the state Department of Food and Agriculture is expected to do so shortly, perhaps as soon as today.