IARN — The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has stalled the development of emerging technology with tremendous promise for livestock agriculture. The FDA has claimed regulatory jurisdiction over gene-edited livestock and has stalled the technology in the U.S. for more than two years, according to NPPC. However, the scientists who invented one of the most promising forms of this technology, the “CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors,” were just awarded the Nobel Prize.
NPPC President Howard A.V. Roth states the Nobel Prize award serves notice that “If we don’t move oversight of gene-edited livestock to the USDA, we will have ceded this promising technology to global competitors at the expense of American jobs and our nation’s global agricultural leadership position.” The National Pork Producers Council has repeatedly called for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to be granted gene-edited livestock regulatory oversight. NPPC says gene editing accelerates genetic improvement that would occur naturally over time by making changes to an animal’s own genome.
Story courtesy of the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network
Image source: Wikimedia Commons
