On August 18, 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) advised the public that it is withdrawing notices of intent to prepare environmental impact statements (EIS)...more
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced on July 8, 2025, that it has received a petition from Bayer CropScience seeking a determination of nonregulated status...more
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced on August 1, 2025, the opening of a 30-day public comment period for stakeholders to provide feedback on USDA’s reorganization plan, as outlined in the July 24, 2025,...more
U.S.-licensed vaccines currently exist for hundreds of animal diseases. Among these are vaccines for diseases that affect both animals and humans, including rabies, West Nile virus, brucellosis, leptospirosis, and Lyme...more
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced on July 9, 2025, that it will no longer conduct environmental analyses under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) when...more
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced on July 9, 2025, that it is updating its practices for reviewing petitions seeking a determination of nonregulated...more
On June 6, 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced that it has prepared a revised draft environmental impact statement (EIS) and revised draft plant pest...more
On June 16, 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) issued a final rule making technical amendments to the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.) to conform the...more
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced that it received a petition from Ishihara Sangyo Kaisha, Limited seeking a determination of nonregulated status for...more
On June 13, 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced that its Biotechnology Regulatory Services (BRS) has launched an updated Pre-Application Questionnaire...more
On June 3, 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) began a public comment period on a draft plant pest risk assessment (PPRA) and draft environmental assessment (EA)...more
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced on March 27, 2025, that it will no longer use the process it outlined in 2012 for reviewing petitions seeking a...more
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced on February 27, 2025, that it will begin to accept petitions for nonregulated status according to APHIS biotechnology...more
USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced on January 23, 2025, that it is reinstating its legacy notification procedure as of February 7, 2025, providing a streamlined alternative to permits for...more
As reported in our December 5, 2024, blog item, on December 4, 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced that it acknowledges the U.S. District Court for...more
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced an abrupt reversion to its pre-2020 approach to biotechnology regulation on December 19, in the wake of a December 2...more
In 2021, a group of NGOs challenged critical provisions of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulations governing the path to market for new genetically engineered plants (GE plants), including plants developed using...more
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,...more
On December 4, 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced that it acknowledges the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California’s December 2,...more
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced on November 13, 2024, that it added modifications a plant may contain and qualify for exemption from regulations...more
Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund v. USDA On October 30, 2024, a group of plaintiffs headed by the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund (R-CALF), filed a complaint (Case No. 5:24-cv-5085 (D.S.D.)) against the U.S....more
On November 6, 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Biotechnology Regulatory Services (BRS) announced the completion of the final version of the Guide to...more
In October 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) reviewed the following plants modified using genetic engineering to determine whether they posed an increased...more
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Biotechnology Regulatory Services (BRS) will hold its annual stakeholder meeting on November 14, 2024. The meeting will take place...more
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Biotechnology Regulatory Services (BRS) announced on September 12, 2024, the availability of the following updated resources to...more