Moolenaar, Lawmakers Seek Answers After USDA Approves Chinese Genetically Engineered Soybeans – Select Committee on the CCP |

WASHINGTON D.C. --Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party wrote to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, inquiring why the U.S. Department of Agriculture greenlit a Chinese agricultural biotech company with close links to the Chinese government operating in the United States. The firm, Qi Biodesign, is a company that makes genetically engineered soybean seeds and was prioritized for USDA regulatory approval ahead of many American agricultural companies that currently face extensive delays.

Select Committee Members Neal Dunn (R-FL), Dusty Johnson (SD), Ashley Hinson (R-IA), Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), and Ben Cline (R-VA) joined the letter.

The lawmakers outline a host of concerns writing,Qi Biodesign and other PRC firms like it are directly supported by the PRC government with the explicit purpose to replicate and replace U.S. agriculture biotechnology. While the PRC is clear-eyed about its desire to never allow its agriculture industry to be reliant on foreign technology, it appears the USDA is approving PRC agriculture biotechnology without concern for U.S. supply chains or trade negotiations. USDAs clearance of Qi Biodesigns products undermines years of hard-nosed U.S. trade demands and could make U.S. farmers complicit in the PRCs desire to replace them.

In an era when the Chinese government forbids U.S. agricultural companies from operating in China, Chairman Moolenaar underscores how perplexing it is for USDA to extend these benefits to companies beholden to our chief adversary. Moreover, the decision to welcome a Chinese government-backed company that sells genetically engineered soybeans into the U.S. raises serious questions for American consumers that mistrust genetic engineering in China.

Government-backed actors from China also have a long history of stealing U.S. agricultural intellectual property, with some going as far as digging up seeds in U.S. farm fields to smuggle back to China. In light of the growing threat, Chairman Moolenaar requests the Secretary of Agriculture that immediately revisit the regulatory status review for Qi Biodesign and asks for a briefing to address the following questions:

Read the lawmakers' letter to the FDAHERE.

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Moolenaar, Lawmakers Seek Answers After USDA Approves Chinese Genetically Engineered Soybeans - Select Committee on the CCP |