The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has reopened a comment period on a proposal to add five exemptions to plant modifications that could be achieved through conventional breeding, according to a news release.
APHIS said these types of genetic modification would be exempt from regulations concerning the movement of organisms modified or produced through genetic engineering.
“This action would reduce the regulatory burden for developers of certain plants modified using genetic engineering that are not expected to pose plant pest risks greater than the plant pest risks posed by plants modified by conventional breeding methods,” APHIS said in a Federal Register notice.
