Biotechnology can transform agriculture—making animals and crops resistant to disease, ensuring our food supply is nutritious and secure, and boosting rural economies. Now, it’s time for policy to catch up to this incredible science, writes the head of Missouri’s Department of Agriculture.
“[K]eeping our livestock disease-free has taken on a new sense of urgency, not only to safeguard our herds from foreign animal diseases, but also to protect our economic health,” says Chris Chinn, Director of the Missouri Department of Agriculture and a hog producer, in an op-ed in the Missouri Realist.
Agriculture biotechnology could save animal lives and rural economies—by breeding animals resistant to diseases like porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, African swine fever, and avian flu.
“More urgent perhaps are the potential human health benefits,” she continues. “Innovations in animal biotechnology may be able to prevent, prepare for, and respond to outbreaks of infectious diseases such as COVID-19, Ebola, MERS, and Zika, among others, by providing prevention strategies and treatments for humans.”
But: “These innovations are moving forward in slow motion until the regulatory pathway for animal biotechnology is streamlined. Currently, there is no time frame for the approval process; it’s confusing, burdensome, and unpredictable.”
It’s time for policy to catch up to the science. Chinn suggests the government streamline animal biotech regulations, with “an agreement between the [U.S. Department of Agriculture] and [U.S. Food and Drug Administration]” to make commercialization “clear, consistent, risk-based, and predictable.”
“Now more than ever we must invigorate investment, generate cures, transform our food system, and sustain our economy,” concludes Chinn. “Now is the time for policy to catch up to science.”
Read the whole thing.
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