The order's impact will depend on how the Agriculture Department, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency carry it out, since simple deregulation could cause consumers to be more skeptical of GMOs, according to Greg Jaffe, biotechnology director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. The order may have a bigger impact on livestock than crops, since genetically engineered animals tend to face more regulatory hurdles, Choi reports.
Federal agencies have been trying to clarify policies as new technologies emerge, but the GMO approval process is complicated because "how genetically engineered plants and animals are currently regulated in the U.S. varies depending on the exact methods used to produce them," Choi reports.
Last week the USDA proposed changing its regulations to exempt most GMOs from special oversight if they had were produced through gene-editing. That's a form of genetic modification that only produces traits that could have been achieved through traditional breeding techniques, albeit much more quickly and accurately, Choi reports. Most of the GMO corn and soy grown in the U.S. is produced through gene editing.
"But Jaydee Hanson of the Center for Food Safety said gene editing could also be used to make more significant changes, including those that would never happen in nature, and said oversight is necessary," Choi reports.
from The Rural Blog http://bit.ly/2Wz1xOR Trump orders easier path for approving GMO crops and livestock - Entrepreneur Generations
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