Statement Of U.S. PIRG Environmental Advocate Richard Caplan
Today's announcement of
plans to update the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) biotech regulations
is a welcome admission that the agency's status quo is insufficient. While offering
some improvements, the vision outlined by USDA raises several troubling issues.
The National Research Council
(NRC) issued a report on Tuesday warning USDA of the inadequacy of current biological
confinement of genetically engineered organisms. Just two days later, instead
of implementing NRC's recommendations to control the spread of unapproved varieties
of biotech crops, the department is considering the exact opposite approach—tolerating
failure.
USDA indicated that it might
allow low-level contamination of food crops by unapproved biotech varieties
to enter the U.S. food supply. The agency claims it will only grant exemptions
from regulation when low-level contamination occurs in spite of good agricultural
practices. But good agricultural practices should not result in violations of
federal regulations and the contamination of the food supply.
Lowering the bar to accommodate
sloppy compliance with regulation is unacceptable and has no place in any plan
to strengthen USDA regulation of biotech crops.
Another serious concern
raised by today's announcement is USDA's decision to not improve regulation
of already approved biotech crops. With their 2002 report on transgenic plants,
the National Research Council cautioned that post-commercialization monitoring
should be used to validate deregulation decisions, a recommendation that has
yet to be implemented. USDA's unfortunate and unwise decision is in conflict
with the National Research Council recommendations.
Updating USDA biotech regulations
is a significant undertaking for which U.S. PIRG commends the agency. We look
forward to working with USDA to improve their current regulations, and will
participate in the planned public hearings and meetings that the USDA announced
would be a part of this effort. It is essential that while USDA makes this effort
to take steps forward to strengthen their regulations, the agency does not simultaneously
take steps back.
