WASHINGTON – Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa today is sending a letter to the Food and Drug Administration to gather information and gain a better understanding about how the United States treats biotechnology imports from other countries. 

After contacting five different federal agencies and several trade groups to get more information about U.S. policy for biotech imports for food or feed grains, Grassley said that it appears nobody has a grasp on the policy.  

Grassley said that as the number of biotech crops continues to rise, it will be even more important that there is a clear U.S. policy in regards to imports of biotech food and grain products, especially as the United States works with its partners around the world on policies to eliminate trade barriers for these products.

In a letter to Food and Drug Administration Acting Commissioner Stephen Ostroff, Grassley wrote, “Biotechnology offers the world great promise, however we must have a predictable, transparent and science based regulatory framework throughout the world to limit economic disruptions from the trade of genetically modified food and grain.”
 
According to a Congressional Research Service report, 420 million acres were planted to biotech crops across the globe in 2012.  These crops range from corn and soybeans to sweet peppers and tomatoes.  Zero tolerance policies can lead to entire ships of product being rejected in foreign ports because of “small amounts of dust” that include traces of biotech traits.  The dust that tested positive for a specific trait may not even be from the current shipment, but under a zero tolerance policy it does not matter.    

 

A copy of the text of Grassley’s letter to Ostroff is below.  A signed copy of the letter can be found here.

 

Dr. Stephen Ostroff, M.D.
Acting Commissioner
Food and Drug Administration
10903 New Hampshire Avenue
Silver Spring, MD 20993-0002
 
 
Dear Dr. Ostroff:
 
In December 2013, the Chinese government rejected several shipments of U.S. dried distillers grains (DDGs) because they were said to contain traces of specific biotech grain traits that had not yet been approved by the Chinese government for import to China.  The rejection of those DDG shipments caused a significant disruption to grain markets and the grain trade.
 
Biotechnology offers the world great promise, however we must have a predictable, transparent and science based regulatory framework throughout the world to limit economic disruptions from the trade of genetically modified food and grain.  Farmers, grain merchandisers, seed companies and end users are all affected if another country rejects grain shipments because they identify non-approved biotech traits.  As we work to limit biotechnology related trade interruptions, I would like to know more about the policies, if any exist, that the United States uses to identify biotechnology traits in products that are imported.  Please respond to the following questions to further my understanding of this issue:
 
1)      Has the United States ever received imports of food or grain products that contain biotechnology traits that have not yet been approved by the U.S. biotechnology regulatory process?
 
2)      Does the United States have an official policy for an allowable threshold of presence of non-approved biotechnology traits in food or grain products?
 
3)      How does the regulatory jurisdiction of the FDA and USDA differ regarding genetically modified food and grains?
 

Please number your responses according to their corresponding questions. If you have any questions, please contact Andrew Brandt of my staff at (202) 224-3744.
Sincerely,


Chuck Grassley
U.S. Senator

 

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