Earthjustice, acting on behalf of four citizens groups, yesterday sued the state Board of Agriculture for allowing genetically engineered algae to be imported and grown on the Big Island without a thorough environmental review.

The board on June 28 approved a request by Mera Pharmaceutical to import seven strains of a genetically engineered alga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, to be grown in an outdoor facility at the Hawai'i Natural Energy Laboratory at Keahole Point in Kona. The algae will be engineered to produce antibodies that can be processed for use in medicine.

Department of Agriculture spokeswoman Janelle Saneishi said the complaint was forwarded to the Department of the Attorney General and that agriculture officials would have no comment.

Earthjustice filed the action on behalf of 'Ohana Pale Ke Ao, Kohanaiki 'Ohana, GMO Free Hawai'i and the Hawai'i chapter of the Sierra Club. The environmental law firm said the Hawai'i Environmental Policy Act requires a more thorough review of the consequences of importing the algae than what the Board of Agriculture required.

"The law requires the state to fully examine the potential impacts of bringing these alien, drug-laden algae to our islands," said Earthjustice attorney Isaac Moriwake.

The Chlamydomonas algae to be imported grow in fresh water and do not grow in brackish water. Exposure to saltwater is fatal. Mera Pharmaceutical proposes to grow the algae in outdoor ponds called photobioreactors, which would be surrounded by moats of saltwater and bleach.

The company could not be contacted to comment on the lawsuit, but in a presentation at the June 28 Board of Agriculture meeting, director of research Miguel Olaizola said the algae could be quickly killed with bleach if an incoming hurricane threatened to release them outside the confines of the ponds.

Hawai'i residents opposing the project at the meeting expressed concern that escaped algae could become established in moist soil or in water supplies, and could cross with native species of chlamydomonas.

Scott Franklin, vice president of technology development for Rincon Pharmaceuticals, the firm for which Mera would be growing the algae, said the modified algae have no potential to contaminate the food chain and that the genetic changes pose no threat to humans. The modified algae are harmless if eaten. The pharmaceutical proteins they produce must be purified and injected to be effective, he said.

But the lawsuit argues for an excess of caution.

"Algae have been the building blocks of life on Earth for 3 billion years. Surely we can spend a few extra months ensuring that genetically altering algae won't have unintended consequences," said Sierra Club director Jeff Mikulina.