Archives

February 28, 2020

ASTM International Biotechnology Task Group Seeking Members

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Ligia Duarte Botelho, M.A. The international standards organization, ASTM International, is seeking additional task group members to further develop the current terminology standard in industrial biotechnology (E3072-19). ASTM International develops and publishes voluntary consensus technical standards for a wide range of materials, products, systems, and services. Its sub-committee, E62.91 for Terminology in Industrial Biotechnology, is responsible for suggesting new...
January 24, 2020

Penn State Offering IMPACT Seed Grants To Support Biotechnology R&D

By Lynn L. Bergeson Pennsylvania State University’s (Penn State) Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences’ Center of Excellence in Industrial Biotechnology (CoEIB) is now offering a new round of IMPACT Seed Grants to support interdisciplinary research, curricular development, or educational activities in the broad area of industrial biotechnology. These areas include but are not limited to: biopharmaceutical manufacturing, food biotechnology, and production of biobased chemicals....
January 10, 2020

U.S. President Releases Message On Biotechnology Month

By Lynn L. Bergeson On January 1, 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump released a statement recognizing the beginning of National Biotechnology Month and the country’s “enormous potential” of biotechnology to improve lives in the United States and around the globe. Highlighting the benefits of biotechnology in different sectors, President Trump states that for every one job in biotechnology, nearly two other jobs are created in various sectors in the rural United States. In his...
January 10, 2020

USDA, FDA, And EPA Announce Unified Website On Biotechnology

By Lynn L. Bergeson On January 9, 2020, also in recognition of National Biotechnology Month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the launch of a unified website for biotechnology regulation. Streamlining information about the three agencies in charge of overseeing agriculture biotechnology products, this website comes, in part, to fulfill President Trump’s Executive Order (EO)...
April 5, 2019

FDA Highlights Advances In Animal Biotechnology Product Development

By Lynn L. Bergeson On April 2, 2019, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner, Scott Gottlieb, M.D., and Deputy Commissioner for Policy, Legislation and International Affairs, Anna Abram, released a statement on the status of FDA’s Plant and Animal Biotechnology Innovation Action Plan (Action Plan). Focused on FDA’s risk-based regulatory framework, the Action Plan aims at securing confidence in the safety and performance of plant and animal-based products for consumers,...
March 29, 2019

FDA’s Premarket Voluntary Plant Biotechnology Consultation Program Provides Opportunity For Develope

By Lynn L. Bergeson In a recent statement prepared by U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Susan Mayne, Ph.D., Director of FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, and by Dennis Keefe, Ph.D, Director of FDA’s Office of Food Additive Safety, FDA highlights its commitment to assisting plant biotechnology developers to foster innovation and ensure that consumers can confidently trust FDA’s high safety standards.  Plant biotechnology consists of methods...
November 2, 2018

FDA Releases Statement On A New Plant And Animal Biotechnology Innovation Action Plan

By Lynn L. Bergeson On October 30, 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a statement by FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., and FDA Deputy Commissioner Anna Abram regarding FDA’s new action plan to advance plant and animal biotechnology innovation.  Aimed at ensuring the safety of plant and animal biotechnology products and avoiding unnecessary barriers to future innovation, the Action Plan focuses on three key priorities: Advancing public health by promoting...
August 17, 2018

Trump Administration Lifts Ban On Biotechnology Crops In Wildlife Refuges

By Lynn L. Bergeson On August 2, 2018, the Trump Administration’s Principal Deputy Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Gregory J. Sheehan, reversed an Obama era 2014 policy on the use of biotechnology on wildlife refuges. On July 17, 2014, the Obama Administration issued a memorandum prohibiting the use of genetically modified biotechnology crops to feed wildlife and the use of neonicotinoid pesticides in agricultural practices. This ban was issued in response to...
April 6, 2018

USDA Issues Statement On Plant Breeding Innovation Techniques That Include Genome Editing

By Lynn L. Bergeson On March 28, 2018, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Sonny Perdue issued a statement providing clarification on USDA’s oversight of plants produced through innovative new breeding techniques that include techniques called genome editing.  The announcement states that under its biotechnology regulations, USDA “does not regulate or have any plans to regulate plants that could otherwise have been developed through traditional breeding...
January 19, 2018

Rural Prosperity Task Force Presents Findings To President Trump

By Lauren M. Graham, Ph.D. On January 8, 2018, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue presented to President Donald Trump the findings of the Interagency Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity.  The Task Force was established in 2017 following an Executive Order by President Trump to ensure the informed exercise of regulatory authority that impacts agriculture and rural communities.  According to the report, over 100 actions organized around five key topic areas,...