CON TEXT PHARMING

Now there's a skill that's dying out: spelling.

No, it's not's a mis-spelling. Pharming is growing crops specifically for pharmaceutical purposes. Unlike traditional farming, where crops such as maize, wheat and barley provide food for the consumer, pharming produces crops that are used only as medicines.

How do they do that?

In pharming, plants are genetically modified to produce a certain pharmaceutical product. They are then grown in large quantities, thus producing a large supply of that pharmaceutical product. The technology is still in its infancy, but it's reckoned that pharming could produce vital supplies of vaccines and life-saving drugs such as insulin.

So, instead of artificially producing drugs, you can grow them?

Precisely. When the crop is harvested, the drug can be extracted from the plant and purified. In some cases, the plant itself becomes the medicinal product, and can be taken directly instead of the usual bottle of pills.

Sort of, like, chew on this and call me in the morning, eh?

You could say. The active ingredients of pharmed products are called recombinant proteins, and they are said to have potentially greater efficacy than drugs made from other methods. They also have fewer side-effects, and are more likely to target the disease itself rather than the symptoms. Pharming is the cheapest way of producing these recombinant proteins.

But what about the whole GM debate - isn't there a danger that pharmed crops will contaminate ordinary crops, and we could all end up with chlorothiazide in our cornflakes?

Pharming is carried out in strictly controlled, enclosed facilities, and monitored by official bodies, such as the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). But there are big fears about so-called "gene flow", and there have been violations. The USDA fined one pharma company $250,000 in 2002 for letting some genetically modified corn mingle with a soybean crop.

Well, it's all happening miles away, so why should we worry?

Recent newspaper reports have suggested that Ireland could become a big player in the pharming world, and that in the near future everybody will be reading the "Pharmer's Journal". Science writer Sean Duke, in an article in the Sunday Times, reckons that Ireland is ripe for pharming, and that it could provide a boost to the economy. There is, however, the small matter of Ireland's tight restrictions on growing GM crops - but Duke believes that the low cost, high yield and relative safety of pharming will make it an attractive income stream for the future.

Is he alone in his optimism?

Not at all. Teagasc, the Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority, dug out its crystal ball and predicted that, by the year 2030, the Irish agricultural landscape will have changed irrevocably, with more emphasis on biodiversity and environmental sustainability, the growth of pharming and the production of "nutraceuticals", foods with in-built medicinal qualities. The report was published in May and sets out Teagasc's vision for an "Irish knowledge-based bioeconomy".

So we can expect a bumper harvest of guff, then?

Either way, it looks as if pharming is the future, and soon we won't be able to buy a cucumber sandwich without a doctor's prescription.

Try at work: "Our arthritis-drug crop got mixed up with some marijuana from the hippie commune next door - that's Bob Marley blasting out of the old folks' home."

Try at home: "Hi, honey, I've gone to a bio-conference - dinner's in the medicine cabinet."