Bioengineering is one of the modern era’s most powerful tools to address food insecurity, climate change, and other sustainability issues. But our ability to bring these transformative crops to market was just dealt a major blow.
Early in December, the Northern California District Court vacated rules adopted in 2020 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture through its Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). The lawsuit, brought by anti-bioengineering activists (pretending to be worried about family farms), reinstates a regulatory framework in place since 1986, while the technology was only in its infancy — and not yet even commercially available.
So what does this mean for the future of bioengineered crops? And what can be done about it?
