Trump Administration Proposes Easing Rules on Genetically Engineered Crops
- USDA plans to exempt many new modified plants from regulation
- First rewrite of department’s biotechnology rules set in 1987
This article is for subscribers only.
The Trump administration would exempt many new genetically engineered crops from regulation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture under a broad overhaul of biotechnology rules announced on Wednesday.
The overhaul, which the department said would cut the cost of developing genetically engineered plants, would exempt crops with traits “similar in kind” to modifications that could be produced through traditional breeding techniques. Developers would be allowed to make a “self-determination” that their products are exempt from regulation.