Biotechnology

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched a Unified Website for Biotechnology Regulation on Jan. 9, where relevant background information and resources regarding the government’s regulatory policy on biotechnology products are housed. The website describes the federal review process for certain biotechnology-enhanced products and allows users to submit questions to the three agencies. USDA, FDA and EPA are the three regulatory agencies charged with overseeing agricultural biotechnology products ... Read More

There were media reports that the Chinese government on Dec. 30 approved two biotechnology-enhanced crops for import and renewed import permits for 10 more. According to a document posted on China’s Ministry of Agriculture website, Corteva Agriscience’s Bt soybean variety, DAS-81419-2 (“Conkesta”) was granted an import permit, as was a disease-resistant papaya created by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Center at the University of Hawaii. Corteva confirmed that it had received notification of the approval of its soybean trait, but was still awaiting import approval ... Read More

By Bobby Frederick, Director of Legislative Affairs and Public Policy BASF informed the NGFA this week that the company will launch a hybrid canola variety (MS8 x RF3 x MON 88302) under the commercial name “InVigor Choice LR344PC.” BASF’s stacked trait combines previously commercialized MS8xRF3, which confers glufosinate tolerance, and MON88302, which confers glyphosate tolerance. The initial launch is scheduled to occur in Canada only. Of particular importance to NGFA members, InVigor Choice LR344PC has received import approvals in a number of countries including the United States, ... Read More

[Editor’s Note: This article is a summary of information provided to NGFA by Matt Rekeweg, U.S. industry relations and food chain leader, Corteva Agriscience, Indianapolis, Ind.] U.S. soybean growers this fall are harvesting and delivering their first commercial planting of Enlist E3™ soybeans. Enlist E3 soybeans are part of the Enlist™ weed control system, which also includes corn and cotton. Enlist E3 soybeans are tolerant to three herbicides: 2,4-D choline in Enlist herbicides (the only 2,4-D herbicides authorized for use with Enlist crops), glyphosate and glufosinate. Enlist E3 ... Read More

By Bobby Frederick, Director of Legislative Affairs and Public Policy Nearly 1,000 attendees packed the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines on July 8-11 to hear company presentations and listen to TED-style talks from scientists, academics, growers, livestock producers, grain handlers, and government officials, during the Biotechnology Innovation Organization’s (BIO) World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology.   Enthusiasm surrounding gene editing was a  major focus of the conference, but so were the concepts of transparency and building trust with consumers, which are ... Read More

By Sarah Gonzalez, Director of Communications and Digital Media President Donald Trump directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to streamline their regulation of agricultural biotechnology in an executive order issued June 11. “The United States must employ a science-based regulatory system that evaluates products based on human health and safety and potential benefits and risks to the environment,” the executive order stated. “Such a system must both foster public confidence in ... Read More

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today (June 6) published a new proposed rule for the regulation of plant-based agricultural biotechnology products.   Under the proposed rule, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) – which has authority to determine whether agricultural biotech traits pose a plant pest or noxious weed risk to the environment – would exempt most crops developed with gene-editing techniques from regulation. APHIS said these plants can be produced through traditional breeding techniques, making them unlikely to pose a greater plant pest risk ... Read More

By Randy Gordon, President and CEO A diverse collection of 21 European agricultural, food, chemical, health care and machinery organizations on April 23 distributed an “open letter” to European Union (EU) member states urging that they initiate targeted changes to Europe’s biotech law to allow for the adoption of more “practical and science-based rules” to govern new plant breeding methods, such as gene-editing. The letter was spurred by the European Court of Justice’s decision in July 2018 that interpreted the provisions of EU GMO Directive 2001/18 as requiring that products derived ... Read More

By Bobby Frederick, Director of Legislative Affairs and Public Policy For the first time since mid-2017, China this week announced import approvals for genetically modified crops. The Chinese government announced the approvals on Jan. 8 during a round of trade talks in Beijing between Chinese officials and a U.S. delegation that included USDA Undersecretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Ted McKinney.   The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) of the People’s Republic of China approved the following genetically modified crops for import: Corn (1): ... Read More