The Tennessee Senate passed legislation that seeks to classify and label any food containing a vaccine or vaccine material as a drug.

The bill will move to Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s desk.

“As introduced, defines food that contains a vaccine or vaccine material as a drug for purposes of the Tennessee Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act,” HB 1894 reads.

Sen. Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald) discussed the bill during a session before the vote.

WSMV reports:

Questioning the bill, Sen. Heidi Campbell, D-Nashville, asked if Hensley knew of any instances where food containing vaccines was offered in Tennessee.

“So does the sponsor know of any instances of there being food offered in the state of Tennessee that contains vaccines and some kind of a retail or public forum?” Campbell asked.

“No, I do not know any specific examples. But certainly they are developing this process. And actually, Congress has actually dealt with this as well and passed an amendment that said no fund could be used for transgenic edible vaccines. This is a process that is being developed. But this bill merely would say that if that happens in the future, that food would have to be classified as a drug if it had a vaccine in it,” Hensley replied.

“So while I feel like this legislation’s basically anodyne, I mean, I guess it’s addressing something that I can’t imagine whatever exists, which is the idea that we would somehow be putting vaccines into foods that you would buy in a grocery store. I mean, I can’t think of any logical reason why anyone would ever do that. And I do know that, you know, certainly, there have been experiments with putting vaccines in vegetables for the purposes of, of studying possible transmission methods. But the idea that this would somehow correlate to some kind of a retail offering of vegetables, especially when that vegetable would cost, you know, many thousands of dollars, just seems to me, I guess, messy, to be passing legislation for that reason. So I will be voting no,” Campbell added.

To continue the discussion, Sen. Frank Niceley, R-Strawberry Plains, spoke in favor of the bill with an anecdote about lettuce.

WATCH:

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) last year introduced an amendment to prohibit funding the research into transgenic edible plant vaccines.

“Scientists, funded with your tax dollars, are trying to turn edible plants like lettuce and spinach into mRNA vaccine factories. It’s dangerous to play God with our food. The House just passed my amendment to prohibit USDA funding of this research,” Massie wrote.

“My amendment, which states that ‘none of the funds made available by this act may be used to fund any grant related to any transgenic edible vaccine.’” Massie said on the House floor.

“Does the term ‘transgenic edible vaccine’ sound far-fetched?” he asked.

“Well, it’s not. We’re funding it. In fact, scientists from the University of California, Riverside, funded with your taxpayer dollars, have been studying whether they can turn edible plants such as lettuce and spinach into mRNA vaccine factories, thereby creating a transgenic edible vaccine,” Massie explained.

WATCH:

Massie shared an update of ‘food freedom legislation’ he’s attempting to get passed in the House of Representatives, including prohibiting funds for transgenic edible plant vaccines.

The amendment on transgenic edible plant vaccines was passed by voice.

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Massie discovered a University of California, Riverside research project to create edible plant vaccines.

A $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation made the research possible.

UC Riverside wrote in 2021:

The future of vaccines may look more like eating a salad than getting a shot in the arm. UC Riverside scientists are studying whether they can turn edible plants like lettuce into mRNA vaccine factories.

Messenger RNA or mRNA technology, used in COVID-19 vaccines, works by teaching our cells to recognize and protect us against infectious diseases.

One of the challenges with this new technology is that it must be kept cold to maintain stability during transport and storage. If this new project is successful, plant-based mRNA vaccines — which can be eaten — could overcome this challenge with the ability to be stored at room temperature.

The project’s goals, made possible by a $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, are threefold: showing that DNA containing the mRNA vaccines can be successfully delivered into the part of plant cells where it will replicate, demonstrating the plants can produce enough mRNA to rival a traditional shot, and finally, determining the right dosage.

“Ideally, a single plant would produce enough mRNA to vaccinate a single person,” said Juan Pablo Giraldo, an associate professor in UCR’s Department of Botany and Plant Sciences who is leading the research, done in collaboration with scientists from UC San Diego and Carnegie Mellon University.

“We are testing this approach with spinach and lettuce and have long-term goals of people growing it in their own gardens,” Giraldo said. “Farmers could also eventually grow entire fields of it.”

WKRN News 2 reports:

Read HB 1894 HERE.

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