Gene Editing Is A Continuum of Plant Breeding

At the end of March, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the government agency regulating genetically engineered plants, clarified that under its biotechnology regulations the agency “does not regulate or have any plans to regulate plants that could otherwise have been developed through traditional breeding techniques.” Essentially, this statement signals that the USDA does not, and has no intentions to, regulate gene edited plants, because using gene editing to make changes in plant