Streamlined regulations, enforcement of trade agreements, and increased funding for university research are all needed to advance innovation in biotechnology, witnesses and House Agriculture Committee members said at a hearing [October 26].
Members of the two subcommittees holding the hearing appeared to support the use of biotech, and gene editing in particular, to develop new plants and animals resistant to disease and able to help farming adapt to climate change.
[A] letter from almost two-thirds of the ag committee to Vilsack and acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock… said the “existing regulatory system is not conducive to the timely adoption” of genetic improvements in animals. “In the past 25 years, only two animals intended for agricultural purposes have been approved for use domestically by FDA.”
The letter was signed by — among others — House Ag Committee Chairman David Scott, D-Ga., Ranking Member Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., Del. Stacey Plaskett, D-V.I., chair of the Subcommittee on Biotechnology, Horticulture and Research, and Rep. Jim Baird, R-Ind., the top Republican on that subcommittee.
