New Harvest invited by the USDA to help change federal policy on biotech

New Harvest has been invited to participate in an incredible opportunity to shape U.S. regulatory policy for biotechnology products.

On June 27, Isha will be a panelist at Future Biotechnology Products and Opportunities to Enhance Capabilities of the Biotechnology Regulatory System — a meeting in San Francisco hosted by the National Academies of Sciences at the request of the EPA, USDA, FDA, and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to get perspectives from biotech leaders on regulatory hurdles in the existing framework for federal oversight.

Currently, biotech products are regulated under the 1986 “Coordinated Framework For Biotechnology Products,” which aside from an update in 1992, has remained untouched until now. In response to huge innovations in biotechnology (like tissue engineering for cultured meat!), the U.S. government is gathering information at public meetings such as this one to modernize the regulatory framework accordingly.

Specifically, they are asking questions like:

(1) what types of biotechnology products are likely to emerge in the next 5–10 years,

(2) which enabling tools may change the capabilities or pace of biotechnology,

(3) whether potential products could pose different types of risks relative to existing products and organisms, and

(4) which scientific capabilities, tools, and expertise may be useful to the regulatory agencies to support oversight.

We’re pleased to share that Isha Datar will be speaking on a panel from 1:00–1:45pm PST to speak about the unique challenges and opportunities for cellular agriculture.

We strongly encourage you to participate in the public meeting by attending in person if you’re in the San Francisco area, or viewing the live webcast on Monday, June 27 (registration is required). Members of the public who register and attend in person will have an opportunity to provide public comments during the meeting.

Your physical and online presence will help support New Harvest as Isha speaks to policymakers about the importance of cellular agriculture research for diversity and resilience in agricultural production.

You can stay engaged by following @NASciences_Ag on Twitter, using the hashtag #BiotechStudy, or writing to biotech@nas.edu. We’ll be following the webcast and live-tweeting as well, so keep an eye out on our Twitter feed at @NewHarvestOrg.

More information about the committee is available at http://www.nas.edu/biotech

This is history in the making!

Originally published at https://www.new-harvest.org on June 24, 2016 by Erin Kim.