In July 2015, the White House announced an initiative to modernize the regulatory system for biotechnology products to better protect public health, welfare, safety, and our environment while promoting economic growth, innovation, competitiveness, and job creation. In 1986, the initial Coordinated Framework (CF) was issued to ensure the safety of biotechnology products; the CF was last updated in 1992. Today, it is clear the existing framework is insufficient and incomplete. Friends Fiduciary recognizes the health and environmental risks associated with potentially harmful genetically engineered (GE) products and organisms. With that in mind, FFC joined a group of investors and advocates to urge the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to incorporate four overarching principles into the new regulations.
Those principles are:
- Clear and enforceable regulations that apply to all organisms developed using GE processes.
- Regulation of the broader range of risks of the products of biotechnology, including long- term health impacts, and direct and indirect environmental impacts.
- Improved regulation of non-GE crop contamination, ensuring that the costs of contamination are borne by those using GE products, not the companies impacted by contamination.
- Mandatory labeling of GE food products.
FFC supports a regulatory system that efficiently assesses the risks associated with future biotechnology products while supporting innovation, protecting health and the environment, maintaining public confidence in the regulatory process, increasing transparency and predictability, and reducing unnecessary costs. It is our hope that such a new system will not only better protect consumers, but will ensure a consistent and fair playing field for companies which increases certainty and reduces both short- and long-term risk. Click here to view letter