Coalition for Responsible Gene Editing in Agriculture establishes steering committee

The committee will develop a framework for responsible gene editing.

By Wayne Labs, Senior Contributing Technical Editor

The Coalition for Responsible Gene Editing in Agriculture has established a multi-stakeholder Steering Committee to develop a framework for the responsible use of gene editing in agriculture.

The steering committee, representing diverse stakeholder interests, met July 26 in Washington, D.C. to begin the development process.

“The steering committee will work to develop a framework that can provide assurance to the food system and other stakeholders that those using gene editing within the framework are doing so responsibly,” says Charlie Arnot, chief executive officer of The Center for Food Integrity (CFI), which facilitates the Coalition. “The framework will provide an opportunity for those engaged in gene editing to demonstrate their commitment to values that build trust.”

The Coalition recruited a diverse group of stakeholders to serve on the steering committee, including academics, food company leaders, non-governmental organizations, farmers, those developing gene-editing applications and related associations.

The members of the steering committee are: Leon Bruner, Grocery Manufacturers Association; Jason Clay, World Wildlife Fund; Natalie DiNicola, Benson Hill Biosystems; Michael Doane, The Nature Conservancy; David Fikes, Food Marketing Institute; Kevin Fitzgerald, Creighton University; Philip Good, farmer, United Soybean Board director; Keira Havens, Pivot Bio; Greg Jaffe, Center for Science in the Public Interest; Scott Kohne, Bayer CropScience; Emily Metz, Genus; Mike Paustian, farmer, Paustian Enterprises; Ian Puddephat, PepsiCo; Bernice Slutsky, American Seed Trade Association; Nicholas Storer, Corteva Agriscience, Agriculture Division of DowDuPont; Alison Van Eenennaam, University of California – Davis; Matthew Willmann, Cornell University; and Craig Wilson, Costco Wholesale.

The steering committee plans to build on the success of self-governance models to create a recommended model for responsible use of gene editing. Once developed, the model will be circulated for feedback from a larger group of stakeholder representatives, and ultimately approved by the leaders of CFI’s Coalition.

In addition to the framework, the Coalition is developing communications training and materials to support effective public engagement about gene editing. To learn more about the Coalition for Responsible Gene Editing in Agriculture visit http://geneediting.foodintegrity.org/.

KEYWORDS: agriculture biotechnology

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Wayne Labs has more than 30 years of editorial experience in industrial automation. He served as senior technical editor for I&CS/Control Solutions magazine for 18 years where he covered software, control system hardware and sensors/transmitters. Labs ran his own consulting business and contributed feature articles to Electronic Design, Control, Control Design, Industrial Networking and Food Engineering magazines. Before joining Food Engineering, he served as a senior technical editor for Omega Engineering Inc. Labs also worked in wireless systems and served as a field engineer for GE’s Mobile Communications Division and as a systems engineer for Bucks County Emergency Services. In addition to writing technical feature articles, Wayne covers FE’s Engineering R&D section.