From: The National Law Review
Joanne S. Hawana | Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C
Katherine Fox, project analyst at Mintz Levin, also contributed to this story.
Last week, the White House waded into the GMO regulatory fray with the Office of Science and Technology Policy’s (OSTP) announcement of a major overhaul of GMO regulation.
In a statement released July 2, OSTP noted that the current regulatory system for “biotechnology products” (defined for this purpose as products created through genetic engineering of plants, animals, and microbes), governed by the Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of Biotechnology (CF), creates “unnecessary costs and burdens.” It also is difficult for laypeople to understand, thus undermining public confidence in the safety of such products. The White House science advisors are calling for an “update of the CF […] to facilitate the appropriate Federal oversight by the regulatory system and increase transparency, while continuing to provide a framework for advancing innovation.”