Petunia Precedent

A few years back, several New Zealand scientists began tinkering with petunia pigment genes developing biotech varieties with lush dark leaves. The scientists wondered if they could sell their flowers. They wrote to regulators in the United States, the country most open to genetic engineering. The Agriculture Department responded, saying the petunias, because of the technology used, did not require its oversight — a promising decision. Before the biologists went further, however, the work fell to a reorganisation. Everyone moved on. They had no idea they’d blown open a huge loophole in US biotech regulations. “It wasn’t really considered an enormous deal,” said Roger Bourne, the communications director for the New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research, which developed the petunias. In 27, the biologists, Bourne said, innocently wondered what “the commercial situation would be with this? And asked the question.” Despite its low profile, USDA’s petunia decision is set to revolutionize the way genetically modified crops from trees to fruit are regulated in the United States.