A broad spectrum of agriculture, environment, and food stakeholders agree: animal biotech is an important tool in the climate-change toolbox.
The Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance, a new coalition of leading ag, food, forestry, and environmental groups, put forward policy recommendations including a “risk- and science-based regulatory pathway to streamline the animal biotechnology approval process.”
The 52-page report authored by American Farm Bureau Federation, Environmental Defense Fund, FMI-The Food Industry Association, National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, and The Nature Conservancy, among others, recognizes that improved animal genetics can help livestock adapt to a changing climate and contribute to reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
Specifically: “Improvements in animal genetics to produce more meat or milk could allow for a reduction in the total number of animals in production, thus reducing the aggregate environmental impact. The use of technologies, such as gene editing, could enable such improvements to be made quickly,” says the coalition report.
To date, only one food animal has been approved—the AquAdvantage salmon—and it was under review for more than two decades.
And over the past year, many other stakeholders have weighed in—including livestock producers and state ag commissioners.
This is why BIO has urged the U.S. Government to modernize the animal biotechnology regulatory system—currently under the authority of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)—to give technology developers more clarity and investors more confidence in the pathway to commercialization.
Learn more about how we can drive animal biotech solutions.
