This year marks the 35th anniversary of the US Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of Biotechnology, a blueprint for federal agencies’ oversight of genetic engineering that was prepared by the White House and published by its Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).
The OSTP now has a perfect opportunity for President Biden to make good on his repeated promises to “always follow the science,” by directing federal agencies to incorporate the Scope Document’s principles into practice, thereby reducing the costly over-regulation that is stifling many of the important benefits of agricultural biotechnology.
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There is a widespread and long-standing consensus in the scientific community that molecular genetic engineering techniques are more precise and predictable than older, conventional techniques. After 35 years of real-world experience with genetically engineered plants and microorganisms, and countless risk-assessment experiments, it is past time to reevaluate the rationale for, and the costs and benefits of, the case-by-case reviews of genetically engineered products now required by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
