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Corn growers want faster trait approvals

Corn growers want faster access to new biotechnology traits.  There was frustration expressed at the recent National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) Corn Congress over excessive regulatory delays in the international marketplace.

“Particularly countries that don’t have what we would call a functioning approval process,” said Don Duvall, a farmer in Southern Illinois and chairman of NCGA’s Freedom to Operate Action Team.

“Many times they’re quite arbitrary in the traits they approve and the timeline they approve them on,” he said.

New NCGA policy supports commercialization of biotech corn traits approved by the U.S. and Japan, but that are delayed more than 30 months by governments with non-functioning regulatory systems.

“It at least sends a message to them that we will no longer be dictated and withhold traits that could greatly benefit U.S. corn producers because of their lack of approval for whatever reason,” said Duvall.  “Many times that’s a political reason.”

The new policy relies on World Trade Organization standards defining a functioning regulatory market as science-based and free of political influence.

The National Corn Growers says there are biotechnology traits that have been waiting for regulatory approval in some markets for 48 to 72 months.

AUDIO: Don Duvall (7 min. MP3)

 

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