diff --git a/uk/ac/sanger/artemis/util/DatabaseDocument.java b/uk/ac/sanger/artemis/util/DatabaseDocument.java
index 2c1752148b07fe81e87aa6756ec8c3bb750fcb72..04fb7531a796b47c2fd046d16750dd2487e01a1f 100644
--- a/uk/ac/sanger/artemis/util/DatabaseDocument.java
+++ b/uk/ac/sanger/artemis/util/DatabaseDocument.java
@@ -335,7 +335,10 @@ public class DatabaseDocument extends Document
 
       this_buff.append("timelastmodified="+timelastmodified+";");
    
-      String value = GFFStreamFeature.encode(rs.getString("value"));
+      String value = "";
+      if(rs.getString("value") != null)
+        value = GFFStreamFeature.encode(rs.getString("value"));
+
       this_buff.append(propTypeName+"="+value); // attributes
 
       int rewind = 0;