Date: August 6, 2019 Dear BRS Stakeholder, The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is deregulating a soybean variety, developed by Verdeca, LLC (Verdeca), genetically engineered (GE) for increased yield potential and resistance to the herbicide glufosinate. As part of the petition process, APHIS prepared a draft plant pest risk assessment (PPRA) and draft environmental assessment (EA), and made these documents available for a 30-day public review and comment period on March 13, 2019. APHIS considered all of the public comments and conducted a thorough review of the potential environmental impacts in its final EA pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), reaching a finding of no significant impact (FONSI). APHIS concluded in its final PPRA that this GE soybean variety is unlikely to pose a plant pest risk to agricultural crops or other plants in the United States and is deregulating it effective the date of publication of the Federal Register notice. A copy of APHIS’ final PPRA, EA, FONSI and supporting documents can be found on the News and Information page of the BRS website.
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
