The American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) is pleased with the clarification made by USDA last week regarding oversight of plants produced through innovative new breeding techniques, including gene editing.

“The (USDA) announcement really clarifies the practice they’ve had had ongoing for the last couple of years in that products created through gene editing don’t need to go through pre-market, regulatory process that transgenic and biotech products do,” said ASTA president and CEO Andy LaVigne.

USDA has no plans to regulate plants that could otherwise have been developed through traditional breeding techniques, as long as they are not plant pests or developed using plant pests. “If you can get to creating a new variety using techniques used today, using gene editing, they are equivalent,” said LaVigne. “If you use gene editing to create a new transgenic, if you bring in foreign DNA, that will still have pre-market regulatory requirements.”

Learn more in this interview. Interview with ASTA CEO Andy LaVigne