In the wake of a December 2, 2024, ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California that struck down core USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) regulations on genetically engineered (GE) organisms, the agency announced on December 19, 2024, that it will revert to its pre-2020 regulatory framework for GE organisms. Please see our updated blog post for more information.
Original post (December 6, 2024):
In a decision that raises significant questions about the future oversight of genetically engineered (GE) plants in the United States, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Monday, December 2, 2024, struck down the 2020 USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) rule codified at 7 C.F.R. § 340 regarding GE plants. The court vacated APHIS’s 2020 rule, formerly known as the SECURE (Sustainable, Ecological, Consistent, Uniform, Responsible, Efficient) rule, which had been adopted to streamline USDA oversight of plants developed using genetic engineering.
