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ASA concerned with plant breeding scrutiny

The American Soybean Association (ASA) is concerned that new plant breeding methods will be scrutinized the same way transgenic biotechnology was.

In February, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced its intent to conduct a comprehensive study into biotech crop regulations.

ASA president Richard Wilkins says in the past APHIS has taken too long deregulating new technology.

“We’ve got some new plant breeding methods that are now available to the industry, that rather than being transgenic, it simply involves using some of the new technology to be able to edit the genes of the existing species.”

He tells Brownfield the study could lead to positive results.

“If the intent of this review is to improve and make the timeliness of availability of new technology to farmers quicker, then that maybe a good thing.”

But whenever a government agency gets involved with an agricultural issue, Wilkins says all stakeholders need to have a seat at the table.

“You always have to be cautious about what they’re doing; making sure that we provide the proper imput, so that (the regulations) don’t become worse than they were to begin with.”

ASA is proposing regulations consistent with APHIS’s authority that are product-based and only on products posing a documented risk.