^®: CRE Regulatory Action of the Week

White House Issues Biotech Memo to EPA, FDA and USDA
Several offices in the U.S. Executive Branch, including the Office of Science and Technology Policy and Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, have issued a joint memorandum entitled Modernizing the Regulatory System for Biotechnology Products. This memorandum explains that it "initiates a process to modernize the Federal regulatory system for the products of biotechnology and to establish mechanisms for periodic updates of that system." Among other actions, the memorandum establishes a Biotechnology Working Group Under the Emerging Technologies Interagency Policy Coordination Committee; and it requires EPA, FDA, and the USDA to commission an external, independent analysis of the future landscape of biotechnology products that will identify (1) potential new risks and frameworks for risk assessment and (2) areas in which the risks or lack of risks relating to the products of biotechnology are well understood."