Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Prion Research Mnpro topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee lays over bill to fund prion research at University of Minnesota MnPRO center
Summary
House File 2,778 was laid over after testimony from University of Minnesota researchers requesting $371,000 to study whether chronic wasting disease prions are taken up by plants and the implications for crops and food safety.
The House Agriculture Finance and Policy Committee laid over House File 2,778, a request to fund research by the University of Minnesota’s Center for Prion Research and Outreach (MnPRO) to investigate whether prions associated with chronic wasting disease (CWD) can be taken up by plants and what the implications might be for crops and food systems.
Representative Hansen moved the bill and introduced Dr. Peter Larson, associate professor at the University of Minnesota and co-director of the Center for Prion Research and Outreach, who testified in support. Larson told the committee CWD is endemic in southeast Minnesota and that CWD-positive animals shed prions into the environment; some laboratory studies show prions can persist in soil “perhaps longer than 16 years” and that prions in soil can be taken up by plants and remain infectious in plant tissues. Larson said the MnPRO team has expertise in prion–soil interactions, crop cultivation, and prion remediation and requested a $371,000 appropriation to study plant uptake and its consequences.
Committee members asked whether the issue should be handled by the Department of Natural Resources because it started as a wildlife problem; Larson and other testifiers said prion contamination of soil and commodity crops creates an agricultural concern, not solely a wildlife issue. Members also asked about research into vaccines and eradication; Larson said vaccine and eradication research exist but that the bill’s focus is plant uptake and potential impacts on commodities and markets.
Chair Hansen closed by saying Minnesota has been a leader in prion research and asking for committee support; the committee then laid the bill over for possible inclusion in a future omnibus bill.
