USDA Moves Ahead with Animal Biotech Reform
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is going forward with making sweeping reforms to how biotech animals are regulated, according to the first regulatory agenda from the Biden administration.
The agenda notes that the regulatory framework that USDA is considering would put the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in charge of assessing whether biotech animals would be susceptible to pests or diseases or have the ability to transmit them. To ensure that the meat would be safe, USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service would conduct a pre-slaughter food safety assessment to ensure that the slaughter and processing of animals developed using genetic engineering would not result in a product that is unsound, unhealthful, unwholesome, or otherwise unfit for human food.
USDA is building off a proposal that the Trump administration made in its final days. Under the regulatory framework being contemplated, USDA would promulgate regulations using the authorities granted to the Department through the Animal Health Protection Act, the Federal Meat Inspection Act, and the Poultry Products Inspection Act.
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