CRISPR corn: Dupont’s non-transgenic drought-tolerant gene edited corn could be on sale soon

[R]esearchers at DuPont Pioneer. . . have published a study about a strain of corn engineered with CRISPR to be more resistant to drought. Once it receives government approval, this could soon be the first-ever CRISPR-modified crop to go on sale.

The technique outlined in the study, published August 17 in Plant Biotechnology Journal, is particularly difficult in plants, says Joyce Van Eck, a professor at the Boyce Thompson Institute. . . .

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The advantages of such a crop would be felt first with farmers. . . faced with more frequent and longer droughts, Van Eck says. Consumers would also benefit—more people would have access to food, and prices . . . would be lower.

Before DuPont can make its maize available . . . the plant needs to be approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). . . But it’s likely that DuPont’s maize won’t be subject to the same . . . safety evaluations as are typical GMOs. Earlier this year, the USDA told. . . researchers that it would not regulate [the] CRISPR-modified mushroom, and there’s reason to believe that DuPont’s crop would fall into the same regulatory gap.

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