The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis.
The first CRISPR-edited crops . . . can be cultivated and sold without oversight by the USDA, the agency said in a pair of letters posted in April. The decisions could reduce by millions the cost of development of the crops. . . .
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Such letters from USDA have become “essential” to small companies attempting to bring to market GE plants, says Antony Evans, CEO of . . . TAXA Biotechnologies. . . . “If you don’t get a letter like that, it’s very hard to…raise any money” because investors are leery of . . . the cost-prohibitive regulatory process, he says.
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In an effort to catch up with technology, the White House has ordered the USDA, the FDA and the EPA to update. . . the Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of Biotechnology. . . .
The agencies enlisted help from a committee convened by the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. The committee will attempt to predict “the likely future products of biotech . . .” and what types of risks those products might pose. . . The group . . . plans to publish a report by the end of 2016.
The full, original article is behind a paywall, Nature subscribers can read it here. Non-subscribers can purchase the article: CRISPR-edited crops free to enter market, skip regulation