Source: Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE, 6/12/19


President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed the Modernizing the Regulatory Framework for Agricultural Biotechnology Products Executive Order.

“Our current regulatory framework has impeded innovation instead of facilitating it,” said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. “[I]f we do not put these safe biotechnology advances to work here at home, our competitors in other nations will. Science-based advances in biotechnology have great promise to enhance rural prosperity and improve the quality of life across America’s heartland and around the globe

The Executive order calls for, among other things, regulatory streamlining to facilitate agricultural biotechnology innovation to the market efficiently, consistently, and safely under a predictable, consistent, transparent, and science-based regulatory framework.

USDA is one of three federal agencies that regulate products of food and agricultural technology. Together, USDA, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration have a Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of Biotechnology and regulate these products for human, animal, plant and environmental health. For products derived from plant biotechnology, USDA’s regulations focus on protecting plant health; FDA oversees food and feed safety; and EPA regulates the sale, distribution, and testing of pesticides in order to protect human health and the environment.

NPPC praises the move
"Today's executive order paves the way for common sense regulation to keep America first in agriculture so that we remain the global leader in an economic sector that has offset the U.S. trade imbalance for decades and that is so critical for the prosperity of our rural communities," said David Herring, NPPC president and a pork producer from Lillington, N.C.

Herring said the executive order provides a framework to support leadership in emerging technologies such as gene editing for livestock, an innovation that promises to eliminate costly diseases that cause animal suffering, lower the need to use antibiotics and to further reduce agriculture's environmental impact.

“The United States is falling behind countries such as Canada, Brazil and China that have established regulatory frameworks conducive to investment in the development of gene editing," said Herring. "We are hopeful that this executive order breaks the FDA's current grip on gene editing so a regulatory framework can be established at the USDA to ensure that American farmers – not our competitors in foreign markets – realize its vast potential."

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