The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has proposed five additional exemptions for genetically modified (GE) plants.
APHIS regulates organisms developed by genetic engineering in accordance with the Plant Protection Act, ensuring their safety for agriculture and agricultural resources.
APHIS Final Rule 340 allows for exemptions related to modifications that could be achieved through conventional breeding, thus ensuring that regulations are up to date with technology and science.
The proposed exemptions, in addition to those already existing, include:
- Plants can have loss-of-function modifications at a single genetic locus. This occurs in diploid and autopolyploid plants, or in up to four pairs of homologous chromosomes in allopolyploids. These modifications involve reducing or eliminating the function of a gene.
- Diploid or autopolyploid plants with a single contiguous deletion of any size in one or more chromosomes.
- Autopolyploid plants containing any modification described in existing exemptions that previously applied only to diploids.
- Plants with up to four modifications made simultaneously or sequentially, provided that each modification individually qualifies for exemption and is at a different genetic locus.
- Plants that passed a voluntary review confirming their exempt status were subsequently bred, grown and observed according to species-appropriate conventional breeding methods.
Pairwise Praises USDA Proposal for Plant Breeding Regulatory Exemptions
Pairwise, a food and agriculture company, uses CRISPR technology and gene editing techniques. It transforms plants and production systems. The company positively received the USDA's announcement, published on November 14 on the association's website. The company provides field-grown products that can be obtained through conventional breeding.
“Pairwise therefore welcomes the USDA proposal. These are additional regulatory exemptions that support special crops. They thus better reflect the science of what is possible in conventional cultivation” stated Dan Jenkins, on November 21st.
“We therefore believe that this science-based proposal can help smaller companies working with specialty crops to achieve nutrition and sustainability goals.”
Source: Oils & Fats International
