Risk and Regulation: U.S. Regulatory Policy on Genetically Modified Food and Agriculture

Since the 1980s, successive White House Administrations have shaped federal policy on genetically modified food and agriculture to (1) be product-based, (2) presume low risk from genetic modification, and (3) review GM products under existing federal standards. For two decades, the FDA, USDA, and EPA have erected a regulatory framework for GM products based on these three principles. This Article reviews the history and structure of this framework and the challenges that it has faced as more GM products have entered the market. The Article concludes that the three basic principles of federal GM policy may have to be reconsidered and redirected as genetic modification continues to grow as a force in world commerce.