Editor’s note: This letter was signed by University of Minnesota College of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources graduate students Matthew Ott, Leanna Leverich, Zenith Tandukar, Nikki Mihelich, Marie Sorensen, Jared Spakman and Jason Thomas
To our U.S. Representatives:
We, the undersigned University of Minnesota College of Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resource Sciences graduate students, are requesting that you, our U.S. representatives, co-author a bipartisan bill to deregulate the process for developing genetically modified crops that have the potential to produce sustainable sources of fiber and fuel (not food).
If the costs associated with the regulatory approval process for transgenic and cisgenic crop improvement approaches were between $5,000 and $10,000, rather than between $20 million and $30 million as they currently are … researchers would not face an impossible cost barrier for developing important fuel/fiber crops.
Each of us has numerous ideas about genetic modification that could be developed into start-up crop companies and bring more competition into the marketplace dominated by a few mega-companies that can afford the regulatory process.
…
Thank you for representing the interests of rural Midwesterners, which are inextricably tied to the interests of our entire human family.
Read full, original post: Deregulate the process for developing GMO crops for fuel, fiber
