BIO Statement on PIPs Rule: EPA Misses Opportunity to Advance Food, Ag Innovation

The following statement concerning the Environmental Protection Agency’s final rule on regulation of Plant Incorporated Protectants (PIPs) under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) may be attributed to John Murphy, chief policy officer and deputy general counsel for the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO).

“EPA’s revisions to the PIPs regulations come at a critical time for technology developers and society as we innovate to meet global challenges including strengthening food security and climate adaptation, mitigation and resilience. EPA had an opportunity to streamline regulations of pesticidal substances in plants and expand exemptions that help bring new, innovative products made with precise gene editing tools to market. The revisions could have helped biotechnology harness the power of science to advance the bioeconomy and feed the world more securely and sustainably, goals that President Biden has declared in his Executive Order on biotechnology and innovation.  

“Unfortunately, the agency’s final rule is a hugely missed opportunity. EPA’s rule inexplicably holds PIPs produced via biotechnology to a different standard than the same substances produced via plant breeding. This approach of holding the same or similar products to different standards merely due to their production method is not supported by science. EPA is imposing an extremely narrow exemption and burdensome data requirements that render this an exemption in name only.”