A news release on Thursday from Rep. Neal Dunn (R., Fla.) stated that, “[Rep. Dunn] and Jimmy Panetta (CA-20) teamed up to eliminate unnecessary trade barriers that are hurting American exports and hindering innovation and advances in agricultural production technologies, including biotechnology. The Growing American Food Exports Act amends the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 to update a USDA Foreign Agricultural Service program that funds efforts to harmonize international reviews of agricultural production technologies, which will lead to a stronger export economy and trade relations for the United States.
“Approximately one third of all U.S. agricultural exports, roughly $40 billion, are produced with or contain products of genetic engineering. These products face significant regulatory barriers in overseas markets and currently there is no single international standard-setting body to help normalize trade.
“The Growing American Food Exports Act addresses these top trade priorities:
• Maintaining and expanding access in major markets
• Advancing trade-facilitating solutions to inadvertent Low-Level Presence (LLP) of genetically engineered products approved in the United States, but not in foreign markets
• Promoting trade- and innovation-friendly policies globally for emerging technologies
• Building international coalitions for global acceptance of U.S. crops and predictable, science-based regulations.”
