The US Department of Agriculture announced on 28 March 2018 that it will not regulate most crops that are modified with gene-editing techniques. Previously, companies developing gene-edited crops had to request clarification from the USDA on whether or not the agency would regulate their product, and in each case USDA responded that it would not.
The USDA considers gene-editing equivalent to techniques traditionally used by plant breeders to generate beneficial traits without additional risk or need for oversight. These methods include DNA deletions of any size, single-base-pair substitutions, and insertions of DNA from plant relatives, however the agency will continue to regulate those crops that contain genes from other species in order to protect from pests.
