Will new government guidelines for GE crops spur innovation—or do they not go far enough?

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[Editor’s note: Hank Campbell is president of the American Council on Science and Health.]

Since 2014, China has spent $4 billion on advanced agricultural science and is approving new technologies rapidly. Meanwhile, our food science regulatory system remains trapped in the 1980s, paralyzed by environmental lobbyists who buy full-page ads in the New York Times claiming they are “unsure”, it just “needs more testing.”

[W]hen it comes to creativity America is number one. But how will we continue to be number one if it takes 19 years to approve moving a gene from one salmon to another salmon? Even flowers have to be destroyed if there is no market big enough to justify going through a decade of government bureaucracy and hearings about Frankenpetunias.

Just before the inauguration, the Obama administration produced some new USDA guidelines for how to streamline approval for food products and the public comment period just closed. Writing in the Chicago Tribune, I considered the updates needed. After all, we have been using agrobacterium, “nature’s genetic engineer”, for 110 years to prevent disease in plants naturally. Why is the government still acting like agrobacterium mediated transfer is still a big deal?

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post: Are New Government Guidelines For Genetically Engineered Products Going Far Enough?

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In 1962, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring drew attention to pesticides and their possible dangers to humans, birds, mammals and the ...
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