Environmental assessment and regulatory oversight of genetically engineered crops in the United States

Biotechnology advancements are rapidly shaping the future of food and agriculture with genetic engineering tools utilizing both classical transgenic methods and cutting-edge genome editing techniques such as CRISPR. These advancements have expanded the development of crops with novel traits, with a wide range of applications. At the same time, the regulatory system and assessment processes have struggled to keep pace with these rapid innovations and techniques. Notably, this can be an issue when investigating the potential environmental impacts in the development and production of these crops due to the complexity and temporal nature of potential risks. This study explores how environmental assessments for genetically engineered crops have been and are currently being conducted in the United States. This was done by outlining the regulatory framework and environmental assessment processes across federal agencies and then examining five case studies that reflect both incumbent and rising genetic engineering techniques. The robustness of the environmental assessment was evaluated for each case based on the submitted information and the depth of analysis conducted. Conclusions from this study gleaned three major recommendations: (1) the need for governance systems keeping pace with novel innovations, (2) an overall strengthening of environmental oversight for genetically engineered crops, and (3) the need for transparency throughout the assessment processes. This research aims to foster improved environmental assessment and governance practices for novel applications of genetic engineering in food and agriculture systems. • Environmental assessments of genetically engineered crops across five cases. • Comparative framework to assess the robustness of environmental assessment. • Gaps in governance systems, especially in adapting to novel biotechnologies. • Recommendations for enhancing environmental oversight in the U.S.