For nearly two years, it has emerged that the USDA has quietly favored several crops that have been genetically modified using CRISPR. Editing the DNA of humans and animals can be a controversial process, but when it comes to plants, if the modified plant genome does not include foreign genetic material, CRISPR crops will not be subject to special regulation. The USDA officially approved this position this week. According to US Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Purdue, "this approach allows innovation to be introduced without much risk."
The logic is this: You can change the genetics of a plant using classic breeding methods such as crossbreeding. Therefore, as long as scientists change plants in a way that could be hypothetically changed using more traditional methods - say, deleting a plant gene or inserting a gene from another plant that “crosses” with the first one - there is no risk to consumer health. After all, he was used to standard crossing methods. Genetic manipulation with CRISPR is simply faster and more accurate, allowing you to achieve the same results.
Since the 1990s, the USDA has been regulating which genetically modified crops may enter the market, not out of fear of harm to human health, but out of concern that crops with foreign DNA could accidentally cause environmental damage. A fungus that has one gene removed will not pose a threat.
As a result, the ministry has already approved several CRISPR crops, including mushrooms that will stay fresh longer and Camelina sativa, an important oilseed crop that will produce improved omega-3 oils.
In a January interview with Nature, the CEO of Yield10 Bioscience, which developed Camelina sativa, said that the absence of regulatory barriers could save years and tens of millions of dollars in manufacturing. If a company were forced to withstand the usual USDA regulatory process, it would take at least six years and $ 30 million to $ 50 million to verify and collect the data needed to bring the crop to market.
Ilya Khel
