With critical export markets still restricted by trade disputes and mounting concerns about animal disease risk….[p]roper regulatory oversight for an emerging technology, gene-edited livestock, would be a great way to put some wind behind the sales of U.S. pork producers.
Gene editing accelerates….simple changes in a pig’s native genetic structure without introducing genes from another species. Emerging applications include raising pigs resistant to….a highly contagious swine disease that causes significant animal suffering and costs pork producers worldwide billions of dollars.
The FDA is currently claiming regulatory authority over gene-edited livestock based on a decades-old administrative decision….The USDA has already established the right regulatory framework by adopting a risk-based approach to reviewing potential genetic changes in plants. It easily could adapt that approach for livestock and regulate gene-edited animals….
Read full, original article: Gene Editing Promise Stalled at FDA