APHIS Releases Regulatory Status Review of Four Modified Plants

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has released their review of four plants modified using genetic engineering to determine whether they posed an increased plant pest risk as relative to non-modified comparators.

APHIS found that these modified plants were unlikely to pose an increased plant pest risk compared to other cultivated plants and were not subject to regulation under 7 CFR part 340 and could be safely grown and bred in the United States.

The four plants include the following:

• modified cotton and modified soybean for herbicide resistance developed by BioHeuris;
• modified soybean for herbicide resistance developed by PlantArcBio; and 
• modified corn for herbicide resistance developed by Bayer Crop Science.

For more details, read the media release on the APHIS website.