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North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station

Statement and Policies on Research
and Development of Transgenic Organisms
for North Dakota
March 18, 2003
Policy Committee:
Ken Grafton, Director, North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station
Jim Venette, Associate Dean for Academic Programs, NDSU
Al Schneiter, Department Chair, NDSU Plant Sciences
Duane Hauck, Director, NDSU Extension Service
M. Dale Williams, Director, NDSU Foundation Seedstocks
Ken Bertsch, Seed Commissioner, North Dakota State Seed Department
Dave Nelson, North Dakota State Ag Department

Executive Summary

The purpose of the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station (NDAES) is to develop and disseminate technology important to the production and utilization of food, feed, and fuel from crop and livestock enterprises. The pursuit of new technologies, including biotechnology, for enhancing farming, food quality and the environment is consistent with this purpose and will enable North Dakota to participate in the benefits of current and future technological innovations.

New and improved seed varieties are also developed by the NDAES. These crop breeding programs often utilize technologies such as hybridization, mutagenesis, plant tissue and cell culture, and biotechnology in order to develop varieties with the greatest net gains. The NDSU Seedstocks Project has direct responsibility for foundation seed propagation and the increase of these new varieties.

While the NDAES pursues research and crop breeding utilizing new technologies, including biotechnology, it recognizes that producers and consumers continue to want choices of what food products to purchase and what agricultural production and marketing systems to use. The NDAES recognizes that some production and marketing systems have not embraced biotechnology. Therefore, research and new variety development that benefit both biotech and non-biotech crop production and marketing systems will be pursued.

The NDAES's Statement and Policies on Research and Development of Transgenic Organisms for North Dakota describes how biotech research will be conducted and provides insight to the decision-making process related to biotech research. This policy is intended to guide NDSU scientists as they pursue biotech research and provide the public with information on how this work is conducted.

Under the key points of this policy, the NDAES will:

  • Continue to pursue new technologies for enhancing farming, food quality and the environment.
  • Promote the coexistence of various production and marketing systems.
  • Continue to develop genetically improved and environmentally adapted crops.
  • Manage the development and propagation of new varieties to insure the availability of pure seed to the fullest extent possible. Follow research protocols that exceed APHIS standards when field testing regulated biotech crop material.
  • Follow the National Institute of Health guidelines for containment facilities for the biotech materials.
  • Have the NDSU Institutional Biosafety Committee give additional oversight to the approval process for testing regulated biotech material.
  • Continue to utilize public variety release meetings for reviewing plant material considered for commercial release.
  • Require regulated biotech research projects be pre-approved by the NDAES director and all non-regulated biotech research communicated to the director prior to planting.
  • Require that policies regarding biotech research at all NDAES locations be established by the NDAES director.  

NDSU policies on biotech research do not supercede established rules. However, they may be more restrictive or precautionary. NDSU policy and procedures provide protections consistent with its land-grant mission and to protect public interest.

Part 1. Authorities and General Understanding

Preface

The following document provides both a synopsis of information sources, and a policy under which transgenic research will be conducted at the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station (NDAES), and outlines steps that protect public interests during research on transgenic crop research. It also indicates controlling authorities, thereby providing insight on decision-making processes. This document provides an overall framework for agricultural research and extension work involving transgenic organisms undertaken by North Dakota State University. Research protocols for specific transgenic crops will be addressed in subsequent documents.

NDSU is signatory to a letter to the heads of EPA, FDA, NIH, and Secretaries of Agriculture and Health and Human Services (March 3, 2000) that says-in part, �There is an immediate and critical need for accurate information both on food production systems that have provided the American consumer with a diversified and healthful food supply, and on the role new technologies have played in food production and how they have been managed over the past century of American agriculture. It is only based in this context that consumers, legislators, and other decision makers can make sense of the often sensational risk and benefit claims reported by the media. A coordinated public information effort undertaken jointly by the federal government and our institutions will lay the foundation for sound decision making. More important, it will help protect against policy making by headlines and ensure that American food production systems are able to continue to pursue the most effective and safe new technologies for enhancing farming, food quality, and the environment.� NDSU Agriculture believes that both producers and consumers continue to want choices. Choices of what food products to purchase and what agricultural production systems to utilize. Consequently, the NDAES and the NDSU Extension Service are encouraging a coexistence approach to organic, non-transgenic and transgenic crop production.

I. Statutory Authorities and Limitations.

A. The purpose of the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station (NDAES) is the �development and dissemination of technology important to the production and utilization of food, feed, fiber, and fuel from crop and livestock enterprises. The research must provide for an enhancement of the quality of life, sustainability of production, and protection of the environment.� North Dakota Century Code (N.D.C.C.) �4-05.1-05.

B. The Agricultural Experiment Station is a composite of all the Research Extension Centers (RECs), various academic departments and the Agronomy Seed Farm. The directors of each of the Centers, department chairs and the Seed Farm are responsible to the Director of NDAES. The NDAES is controlled and administered by the State Board of Agricultural Research and Education and by the President of NDSU (N.D.C.C. ��4-05.1-01 to -03), operating under the auspices of the State Board of Higher Education (SBHE Policy 350.1)

C. The North Dakota State Seed Department (NDSSD) is designated as the official seed certification agency for the state under N.D.C.C. Chapter 4-09. The Seed Department plays an important role in cooperating with the University and Foundation Seedstocks Program in the research and development of improved seed sources.

The NDSSD performs field inspection, laboratory analysis and final certification services as a part of its role in assuring quality factors of NDSU breeder and foundation seed sources. N.D.C.C. Chapters 4-09, 4-09.1, 4-10, 4-11, 4-25, 4-26 and 4-42 comprise the legal guidelines of the agency in all seed issues, including those directly affecting production of seed at NDSU facilities and sites. N.D.C.C. Chapters 4-09 and 4-42 are particularly important in this area.

N.D.C.C. �4-09-02 sites the facilities of the State Seed Department on the campus of NDSU. Coupled with subsequent references to cooperation with other agencies in N.D.C.C., the fact that the state's research, foundation increase and seed certification programs are situated together indicate a strong working relationship between entities. N.D.C.C. �4-09-19 outlines the Seed Department's obligation to cooperate in the development and maintenance of high quality and pure seed matters.

N.D.C.C. � 4-09-05 provides the Seed Commissioner authority through the Administrative Rulemaking Act (N.D.C.C. Chapter 28-32) to adopt rules and regulations governing the operation of the Seed Department and certification programs within.  N.D.C.C. �4-09-16 contains the principal references (paragraphs 1-6) to the Seed Department's statutory authority in development, certification, representation, regulation and dissemination of all classes of certified seed in North Dakota.

1. Establishment of a seed certification system, including the acceptance of suitable seed stocks for foundation, registered and certified classes; inspection programs for field and conditioning processes.

2. Designation of kinds, varieties and names of seed stocks; establishment of quality standards and criteria for disease and purity factors associated with field inspection and final certification of seed.

3. Prescribing of labels for seed products of all classes including breeder's seed, and the information that must be included on labels.

4. Provides for cooperation with seed conditioners within and outside the state in regard to conditioning, storage, handling and marketing of seed of all classes.

5. Cooperation in selection, testing and growing of seed for certification purposes, and arrangement for increase of foundation seed stocks.

6. Authorization to charge fees for services.

The NDSSD operates under the standards of the Association of Official Seed Certification Agencies (AOSCA) as an inter-agency partner of other agencies throughout North America.  NDSSD standards are often stricter than AOSCA's in terms of the field and lab inspection criteria associated with certification.

N.D.C.C. Chapter 4-42 broadens the mission of the NDSSD beyond the scope of seed certification.

N.D.C.C. �4-42-02 provides the Commissioner with the legal ability to establish programs and services to provide for the inspection, analysis and assurance of physical traits of seeds and crops, including:

  • N.D.C.C. ��4-42-03 and -04 allows the Seed Department to inspect and analyze seeds and crops via the procurement of samples from the owner, and determine the criteria for both field inspection and sampling processes.
  • N.D.C.C. �4-42-07 allows the Seed Department to establish procedures and services for identity preservation, segregation and traceability of seed and crops it analyzes or inspects.
  • N.D.C.C. �4-42-09 provides the Commissioner the ability to cooperate with public and private entities in carrying out the services authorized in the chapter.
  • N.D.C.C. �4-42-11 contains the same warranty disclaimer that is standard throughout the Seed Department statutory guidelines in terms of merchantability and fitness of product.

N.D.C.C. Chapter 4-42 was created via legislation passed during the 2001 Legislative Assembly. Expansion of programs related to N.D.C.C. Chapter 4-42 is ongoing at the NDSSD, and will continue to evolve as research and development related to transgenic crops by public institutions and private industry proceeds.

II. Foundation Seedstocks Program at NDSU.

A. NDSU Foundation Seedstocks functions under the policies of North Dakota State University. Once breeders, with their collaborators, have identified germplasms with net gains, offered evidence for public release of a cultivar (=variety, or equivalent), and developed a recommendation for/against release, and the decision is made by the Director of the NDAES for the cultivar to be released, ownership of the cultivar is assigned to the NDSU Research Foundation (NDSURF). Management of the propagation of the variety as foundation seed, by agreement with NDSURF, becomes the responsibility of the NDSU Foundation Seedstocks Program, operating under rules and regulations of the State Seed Department.

B. The Foundation Seedstocks Project is the direct agent in negotiating grower contracts for the Plant Sciences Department and the NDAES. As an operational unit of the NDAES administered through the Plant Sciences Department, the Foundation Seedstocks Project will comply with policies and the procedures of the State Board of Higher Education, the State Board of Agricultural Research and Education, NDSU, and Experiment Station/College of Agriculture, Food Systems, & Natural Resources, and the department. All grower contracts and other arrangements pertinent to seed increase and release will be developed with the advice and consent of the Plant Sciences Department Chair, Plant Sciences faculty and Extension Agronomists, and will be subject to the approval of the Director and/or Associate Dean for Research of the NDAES. The Project will coordinate the NDSU seed increase programs and cooperate with the Extension Service, North Dakota Crop Improvement and Seed Association, North Dakota Agricultural Association, and North Dakota State Seed Department. It will also provide an interface to the Association of Official Seed Certifying Agencies, the National Foundation Seedstocks Project, and other similar agencies of other states and countries. The North Dakota State Seed Department, Research Extension Centers, and Seedstocks Personnel participate in evaluating and maintaining phenotypic purity of crops and varieties maintained by the Foundation Seedstocks Project.

C. While the Foundation Seedstocks Project at NDSU has responsibility for management of current and upcoming foundation seed propagation and increase (and sometimes acquisition of seed from cooperating units in other states), it does not have responsibility or obligation to archive, maintain, or preserve for posterity those varieties that are no longer requested by those in the seed industry or producers.  That responsibility is ascribed to federal agencies, especially the USDA Plant Introduction Stations and the National Seed Storage Laboratory at Fort Collins, Colorado.

III. Improved and diversified crop varieties.

A. The overriding value of plant breeding programs is to develop genetically improved and more environmentally adapted versions of crops.  Those directed changes may be improved responses to diseases, climatological variations, harvestability, insects, or other traits that, in toto, contribute to improved yield and/or marketable product.  Also, the directed changes may be improved responses to quality requisites that improve handling, storage, processing, or that improve the components of the product used as food, feed, fiber, or fuel.  Repeated intercrossings among established varieties narrows genetic bases; for years, plant scientists have utilized a number of technologies to expand genetic bases among crops.  Included are wide-crosses, mutation breeding, introduction of �alien� germplasm from wild-types, and technologies that modify ploidies of material.

B. Natural, unassisted interchange of DNA among microbes is well recognized through transduction, transformation and conjugation, and the processes for acquisition, recombination, sorting, and expression of newly acquired genes is well known.  Bacteria can move genes into plants naturally, and several species of bacteria are extremely well characterized for their ability to naturally transform plant cells into self-perpetuating tumors or galls.  Crown gall disease (not uncommon on roses and other ornamentals in North Dakota) is an example of natural host plant conversion by the bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens.

C. Through systematic investigations, scientists have found ways to use the natural gene-inserting mechanism of Agrobacterium tumefaciens to move useful genes into plants.  Other gene-insertion methods, such as the gene gun and protoplast transformation, can incorporate new genetic material into functional DNA, but expression of the gene is often inefficient or absent.  Given sufficient time and selection pressures that confer advantage to those plants with unique constitutive capabilities, the insert can become stabilized as a component of the genome.

D.  Because transgenic forms of plants and animals are being developed worldwide by both private and public agencies, the NDAES has a role in evaluating the new materials that may be important to North Dakota agriculture. The NDAES recognizes the diversity of interests that contribute to the state�s agricultural strength and acknowledges that other factors, such as market forces, will ultimately determine the acceptance and value of any new technology.

E.  Federal, state and local agencies have established policies and procedures for developing and employing transgenic materials.

1. The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has standards for testing of transgenic plant materials (www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/biotech/isolate.html).  They include isolation zones of 0 (zero) feet for soybean (or as necessary to prevent mechanical mixing) and 33 feet for wheat, unless the wheat is a hybrid, which would then require an isolation of 660 feet because outcrossing is encouraged by sterility.

2. National Institute of Health (NIH) guidelines prescribe containment facilities for development of transgenics, but they also refer to whole-plant transgenics. {From NIH Guidelines Section III_D_5.  Experiments Involving Whole Plants.  Experiments to genetically engineer plants by recombinant DNA methods, to use such plants for other experimental purposes (e.g., response to stress), to propagate such plants, or to use plants together with microorganisms or insects containing recombinant DNA, may be conducted under the containment conditions described in Sections III_D_5_a through III_D_5_e.  If experiments involving whole plants are not described in Section III_D_5 and do not fall under Sections III_A, III_B, III_D or III_F, they are included in Section III_E.}

3. The NDSU Institutional Biosafety Committee addresses issues according to NIH guidelines (www4.od.nih.gov/oba/rac/guidelines/guidelines.html). This is administered by the Office of Sponsored Programs Administration (Division of the Vice-President for Research, Creative Activities and Technology Transfer).

In addition to the protocols established by the Institutional Biosafety Committee, the IBC application should include an area for signature of Department Chair and Dean/Director on the application for approval/exemption for IBC Approval.  Results of IBC determination should be copied to Chair and Dean.  Also, a system for tracking current status of transgenic research within the NDAES is in place.  Annual feedback should be required.

4. Each NDAES investigator who makes, develops, or tests regulated transgenic material must have completed, and have on file, Institutional Biosafety Committee approval for each test conducted in laboratories, greenhouses, or field trials. The application will include, to the greatest detail practical, location of each test.  Copies of approvals are to be provided to the respective Chair/Director and to the Director, NDAES.   Chairs/REC Directors will semi-annually provide written updates of active projects and discontinued studies to the Director of the NDAES, who will retain these records for a minimum of five years.

IV. Any and all plant material considered by the NDAES for commercial production as a variety, cultivar, or germplasm will undergo review at a variety release meeting prior to its release (See Extension Circular A520, �ND Seed Increase Program�).  The variety release meeting provides an opportunity to review benefits, adverse characteristics, and impacts associated with new plant materials.  The outcome of the variety release meeting is a recommendation to the Director of the ND Agricultural Experiment Station who will make the decision on the disposition of the variety.  The same process applies to transgenic plant forms, even though their increase and distribution may be through other systems, such as Roughrider Genetics of the NDSU Research Foundation.  The exception to this policy is when several states or units contribute to the development of new varieties or cultivars and the release is made jointly.  If NDSU is not the lead or primary applicant for a joint release, the Director may act directly on the request for joint release, but should contact those breeders, agronomists, REC Directors, or others who evaluated the materials for inputs on the values of the new material.  In all cases, decisions should be centered on the benefits to North Dakota Agriculture from the release of new cultivars or varieties. Subsequent to the Director�s decision, the Director of Foundation Seedstocks shall be responsible for insuring that protocols for documenting releases are completed.

V. Research on transgenic organisms; especially crop, production livestock, and industrial microbes will eventually will require some form of field testing.

A.  Field tests and seed increase of trait transgenic crop plants, livestock, or other organisms for non-regulated traits by researchers in the NDAES will be communicated to the Director of the NDAES prior to seeding. NDCC4-05.1-03 provides for the jurisdiction of the Research Extension Centers (REC) by the Director of the NDAES, with center directors reporting to the Director of the NDAES.  The Director of the NDAES establishes policy regarding transgenic organisms at RECs, the ASF, and any Main Station-controlled asset.

B.  Center directors and department chairs will submit, prior to each planting season (or appropriate livestock cycle), a Plan of Work in which intentions to engage in regulated transgenic organisms in test, trials, or increases are clearly disclosed.  Center Directors are encouraged to provide input on the value of pursuing, or refraining from, research on transgenic organisms and are expected to make operational decisions on efficient conduct of studies.  The Director of the NDAES will make policy decisions, upon consultation with Center directors, department chairs, and AES researchers.

 

Part 2. Policies Regarding Specific Crops

Wheat

Background

The NDAES will continue to conduct research on wheat improvement, production, transportation, utilization, and other biological and commercial aspects. Research will include evaluation of new processes that enhance wheat characteristics. Processes will include the use of biotechnology to:  1) introduce new traits, 2) test/evaluate gene products, and 3) characterize and identify output traits or characteristics associated with enhanced wheat qualities. Providing new technologies, introducing new products, and generating the data by which processors and consumers can make informed decisions is commensurate with the mission of the AES.

Foundation Seedstocks, as a unit of the NDAES and under administrative oversight of the Plant Sciences Department Chair, will continue to coordinate increase of foundation seedstocks of wheat. The Director of the Foundation Seedstocks Program will continually assess grower demands for foundation seed, and develop a system by which requested seedstocks are produced by the type (variety) and in the quantities that best meets needs of growers. Because Seedstocks functions �by demand�, the program has no obligation or expectation to maintain germplasm that does not meet the production requirements of producers.

The NDAES will collaborate closely with the N.D. Department of Agriculture in establishing and following guidelines that serve the public interest. Pending modifications based on consensus and on verified scientific evidence, the ND Department of Agriculture provided Transgenic Wheat Supplemental Conditions for 2003 that set limitations: 

A. Isolation from wheat or triticale that will be harvested for use as seed should be at least 330 feet.   This includes all classes of certified wheat or triticale seed as well as any wheat or triticale grain that may be used as common seed.

B. Isolation from any wheat or triticale that will be harvested for grain should be at least 100 feet.

C. Because of the possibility of volunteers, wheat, triticale or crops that would make locating or controlling volunteer wheat difficult (e.g. other small grains), should not be grown within the field trial area, nor within 33 feet of the field trial area during the subsequent two (2) growing seasons and any wheat volunteers appearing within this area should be destroyed prior to flowering.

D. If a transgenic wheat plot is harvested with a commercial combine (other than a small plot combine), then wheat or crops that would make locating or controlling volunteer wheat difficult (e.g. other small grains), should not be grown within the field trial area nor within 50 meters of the field trial area during the subsequent two growing seasons and any wheat volunteers appearing within this area should be destroyed prior to flowering.

E.  Consultation should occur with the North Dakota Agriculture Experiment Station Director and the NDSU Seedstocks Director prior to planting to assure that isolation of at least 330 feet from Foundation Seedstock production and other significant ND Agricultural Experiment Station plantings is maintained.

North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station Policy

The NDAES proposes the following as policy regarding regulated transgenic wheat. This policy may change if and when transgenic wheat becomes deregulated:

A. The Foundation Seedstocks Director (FSD) is responsible for knowing, and mapping NDSU locations of transgenic wheat research and seed increase plantings, and verifying the locations each year of all REC on-station and off-station tests.  The FSD will also collaborate with the ND Department of Agriculture in assuring as much as possible that any other tests, including private tests/increases of transgenic wheat will not be located so as to practically impact the production of foundation class wheat seeds.

B. Unless specifically authorized by the Director of the NDAES, transgenic wheat will not be grown, tested, or increased on the Agronomy Seed Farm land.

C. Transgenic materials, grown under the auspices of NDAES researchers, may be located at any of the RECs (or locations controlled by the RECs), the Dalrymple Experimental Plots near Casselton, AES lands near Prosper, and on the research land associated with the main campus in Fargo.

D. Transgenic wheat must be separated from all other spring wheat or triticale by a distance of at least 330 feet, if adjacent wheat or triticale are research trials from which the grain will be retained as seed, or for commercial sale.  Any wheat or triticale research trial within 330 feet of transgenic wheat will be destroyed on the site.

E. Transgenic wheat must be separated from other crops (non- wheat or triticale) by a distance of at least 20 feet.

F. Wheats with different transgenic traits may be evaluated in the same research trials without the requirement that any distance separate the plots if the resulting seed from these trials is retained for next year�s research trials. However, if seed is intended for developing foundation seed, 330 feet should separate the trials that involve different transgenic traits from each other.

G. If introduced and established in North Dakota, jointed goatgrass (Aegilops sp.), a weed species that can hybridize with wheat, must be eliminated from the area around the plots for a distance of at least 330 ft. Jointed goatgrass is not presently found in North Dakota.

H. Equipment used to plant and harvest transgenic wheat must be completely cleaned of all seeds and other plant parts within the planted area before reuse.  Dedicated equipment, including an identified planter, an identified combine, and seed cleaner provided by Plant Sciences Department will be used exclusively for planting, harvest, and initial cleaning of transgenic wheat involved in the breeding or foundation seedstocks program. Harvested seeds will be cleaned within the field plot area with a generator-powered air-screen cleaner that will be used exclusively for transgenic wheat.

I. If measurements are not taken in the field, recovered cleaned seeds will be securely double bagged or double boxed to prevent loss, then returned to NDSU for measurements.

J. Transgenic seeds at NDSU will be kept in a locked room with security and monitoring at the BL1 or BL1-P level (See NIH Guidelines III-E-3). All seed-borne crop debris, residue, and excess seed will be destroyed by autoclaving or incineration.  Non-transgenic check varieties grown for comparison and not destined for subsequent scientific tests will be treated as if they are transgenic.   Any seed associated with the study will not be allowed to enter commerce as a food or feed product.  Also, seeds of known or suspected transgenic wheat retained for scientific tests and/or incorporation into new lines will be clearly labeled and segregated, and will not be stored, increased, or processed in ways that would increase the probability for admixture with non-transgenic lines.

K. All parts of the transgenic field-grown plants, including clean-out seeds, must be destroyed on site. In harvested plots, residue must be tilled immediately to bury residue so that volunteers are unlikely.

L. Any plot with transgenic wheat(s) and, in addition, any land within 100 feet of such a plot, must not be replanted into any non-transgenic wheat for two years following planting of the transgenic crop; provided the materials in the transgenic trial are hand-harvested or harvested with small-plot machinery as described in Sections H, I and J.  If transgenic wheat plots are sufficiently large that they are harvested with commercial combines, the risk from seed scatter is greater and the isolation area surrounding the plot will be increased to 330 feet. wide. The plots with the additional 100 feet or 330 feet-wide isolation area must have corners: 1) established by GPS coordinates, 2) recorded, 3) marked with field flags, and 4) be monitored for any volunteers. If volunteers are found the second year, monitoring/elimination may be extended.  Cropping with small grains that would make finding volunteers difficult should be avoided.  Wheat volunteers must be destroyed prior to flowering or seed-set by tillage, herbicide application, and hand weeding. Records of inspections and roguing must be maintained.

M. If seed of transgenic wheat is accidentally spilled or released, recoverable seed must be collected and destroyed immediately.  If the incident is in a field location, as much of the seed as possible must be recovered, destroyed, and the site treated as a plot with monitoring for at least two crop years, and any volunteers treated with a killing herbicide prior to flowering.  The Foundation Seedstocks Director, the Director of the NDAES, and the North Dakota Department of Agriculture will be notified of any field spills or accidental releases within one working day.

N. Either USDA-APHIS inspects the plots for isolation distance compliance and monitor the crop destruction process, or the ND Department of Agriculture must be supplied with the information necessary to permit monitoring by NDDA.

O. Data from field trials will be compiled, reviewed by NDAES scientists, and made part of the decision process toward potential cultivar release.  Whenever data are protected by confidentiality agreement, terms of the agreement will be honored.

P. Elsewhere than in the field, transgenic plants will be grown in bio-containment units.  Units are greenhouse and/or laboratory facilities that are exclusively designated to work on transgenic crops.

Q. Until isolated facilities and equipment are available to the Cereal and Food Sciences Department (CFS) at NDSU, dust from milling transgenic wheat could be a source of contamination of milled non-transgenic wheat products.   Current facilities cannot be cleaned sufficiently to preclude contaminations from subsequent processing.  Until tolerances for transgenic levels in milled-wheat samples are established, milling of transgenic wheat will not occur in the same room, nor will the same equipment be used for milling non-transgenic wheat.

NDSU researchers will comply with all laws, rules, and regulations.  NDSU policies do not supercede established rules.  However, they may be more restrictive or precautionary.  Failure to comply with rules and policy will bring sanctions in accordance with NDSU Policies up to, and including, dismissal.  NDSU policy and procedures provide for protections consistent with its land grant mission and to protect public interests.  Any inconsistencies with standing statutes or regulations must be brought to the attention of the Director of the NDAES for reconciliation.

Definitions

Non-regulated Transgenic crops: Transgenic crops that have been approved by the USDA, FDA and the EPA for nonrestricted production. Examples are soybean, canola, corn, cotton, sugar beet, rice and flax resistant to some herbicides; corn, cotton and potato having some insect resistance; squash, potato having resistance to a specific virus; and high oleic acid soybean.

Regulated Transgenic crops: Those crops having specific traits not yet approved for nonrestricted production because all the steps for regulation have not been completed or regulation has not been applied for. Regulations include field and greenhouse monitoring and isolation, destruction of research material residue and seed monitoring.

 

Questions comments regarding this policy should be directed to
ND Agricultural Experiment Station Director
Last updates 08/31/2004

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