FDA, USDA, EPA Join Efforts to Streamline Agricultural Biotech Information

The FDA, the USDA, and the Environmental Protection Agency have launched a unified website for biotechnology regulation. The website streamlines information about the three regulatory agencies charged with overseeing agriculture biotechnology products and is part of President Trump’s “Executive Order on Modernizing the Regulatory Framework for Agricultural Biotechnology Products.”

The new website describes the federal review process for certain biotechnology products and allows users to submit questions to the three agencies. The goals of platform is to provide enhanced customer service to innovators and developers while ensuring that Americans continue to have access to a safe and affordable food supply and can learn more about the safe use of biotechnology innovations.

“This is a time of unprecedented scientific innovation. Agricultural biotechnology promises to bring dynamic new products to the marketplace,” says FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, MD. “At the FDA, we are committed to fostering flexible, risk-based approaches in this field while upholding our mission of protecting and promoting both human and animal health and animal well-being, for example by reducing their susceptibility to diseases like novel influenzas and resistance to zoonotic or foreign animal diseases. Our approach balances our internationally respected, science-based review standards with our ongoing risk-based regulatory approaches to ensure the safety of our food supply.”

Says Andrew Wheeler, EPA administrator, “This new website will help provide regulatory certainty and clarity to our nations farmers and producers by bringing together information on the full suite of actions the Trump Administration is taking to safely reduce unnecessary regulations and break down barriers for these biotechnology products in the marketplace.”

“Agricultural biotechnology has been and will continue to be an essential tool in helping America’s farmers and ranchers feed, fuel, and clothe the world,” says Sonny Perdue, USDA Secretary. “From producers to consumers, all Americans deserve a government that delivers science-based, common-sense regulations that foster innovation, conserve resources, and protect public health, especially when it comes to the food supply.”