USDA has announced an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking on modernizing the regulatory framework for agricultural biotechnology. The rulemaking will transfer portions of the Food and Drug Administration’s existing animal biotechnology regulatory oversight to USDA.
“Our livestock producers need all the tools in the toolbox to help protect against animal diseases and continue to meet the challenge of feeding everyone now and into the future,” said USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue. “If we do not put these safe biotechnology advances to work here at home, our competitors in other nations will.”
USDA is proposing to establish a “flexible, forward-looking, risk-proportionate and science-based” framework that provides a streamlined path to commercialization and follows advancements in science. USDA will accept comments over the proposed rulemaking once published in the Federal Register.
