LegiStorm

Summary:

Biotechnology refers primarily to the use of recombinant DNA techniques to genetically modify or bioengineer plants and animals. Most crops developed through recombinant DNA technology have been engineered to be tolerant of various herbicides or to be pest resistant through having a pesticide genetically engineered into the plant organism. U.S. soybean, cotton, and corn farmers have rapidly adopted genetically engineered (GE) varieties of these crops since their commercialization in the mid-1990s. Over the past 15 years, GE varieties in the United States have increased from 3.6 million planted acres to 173 million acres in 2013. Worldwide, 27 countries planted GE crops on approximately 433 million acres in 2013. GE varieties now dominate soybean, cotton, and corn production in the United States, and they continue to expand rapidly in other countries, particularly in Latin America. Ongoing policy issues include the impacts of GE crops on the environment (e.g., pest and weed resistance), whether GE foods should be labeled, their potential contamination of conventionally raised and organic plants, and issues of liability. Underlying these issues are concerns about the adequacy of federal regulation and oversight of GE organisms, particularly as newer applications (e.g., biopharmaceuticals, multiple GE traits in single organisms, GE trees, GE insects) emerge that did not exist when the current regulatory regime was established in 1986. The FDA is currently considering approval of the first GE animal for human consumption, a salmon engineered to grow to market size in half the normal time. Global trade issues involving GE organisms are a long-standing issue and are particularly salient in current U.S.-EU trade discussions on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP). In the United States, agricultural biotechnology is regulated under the 1986 Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of Biotechnology. Three federal agencies—the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—share regulatory responsibilities. Regulatory non-compliance incidents and issues associated with environmental effects of GE plants have repeatedly raised concerns about the adequacy of existing U.S. regulatory structures. Questions have also arisen about the adequacy of USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's (APHIS's) environmental assessments for deregulating GE plants. In July 2015, the Administration announced in a memorandum to agency heads a review and update of the Coordinated Framework to ensure the capacity of the regulatory structure to address any future biotechnology risks. This is the first comprehensive review of the Coordinated Framework in nearly 30 years. The 114th Congress passed a bill, H.R. 1599, to preempt various state laws that have been recently passed in Maine, Vermont, and Connecticut to require mandatory labeling of GE foods. While preserving current jurisdiction and regulatory authority of FDA and APHIS, the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015, as passed by the full House on July 23, 2015, would preempt any state authority over GE labeling in favor of a voluntary National Genetically Engineered Food Certification Program under the federal Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946. The certification program would establish national standards for labeling both GE and non-GE foods. A consultative process under FDA for the introduction of GE foods would continue, and a new notification system for GE plants used in food would be established. Three bills have been introduced that would require labeling of GE products. One would amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to require labeling of GE fish (H.R. 393), and a separate bill would require labeling of all GE foods (H.R. 913/S. 511). A third bill, the Genetically Engineered Salmon Risk Reduction Act (S. 738), would require labeling of GE salmon and further require an environmental impact statement and risk analysis by the Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere of the Department of Commerce.