The US Environment Protection Agency has announced that it will exempt gene-edited plants from rigorous assessment procedures if the change is also possible to be attained through traditional breeding methods.

In the US, the EPA, together with the US Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is tasked to regulate biotech crops. In 2022, the USDA announced an exemption for gene-edited trait changes in plants that already exist naturally in a sexually compatible plant. However, EPA continues to follow its mandate to preserve the safety of humans and wildlife, and thus, will still require developers to submit evidence that the plant-incorporated protectants derived from newer technologies like gene editing do not cause harm to the other parts of the ecosystem or lead to the development of human diseases.
EPA's final rule was announced on May 31, 2023, and will be implemented starting July 31, 2023.
[www.science.org]