The Plant Protection Act (PPA) (part of ) is a US

statute A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by le ...

relating to plant

pest Pest or The Pest may refer to: Science and medicine * Pest (organism), an animal or plant deemed to be detrimental to humans or human concerns ** Weed, a plant considered undesirable * Infectious disease, an illness resulting from an infection ** ...

s and

noxious weed A noxious weed, harmful weed or injurious weed is a weed that has been designated by an agricultural or other governing authority as a plant that is injurious to agricultural or horticultural crops, natural habitats or ecosystems, or humans or liv ...

s introduced in 2000. It is currently codified at 7 U.S.C. 7701 ''et seq''. It consolidates related responsibilities that were previously spread over various legislative statutes, including the

Plant Quarantine Act The Plant Quarantine Act, originally enacted in 1912 (7 U.S.C. 151 et seq.), gave the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) authority to regulate the importation and interstate movement of nursery stock and other plants that may carry ...

, the

Federal Plant Pest Act The Federal Plant Pest Act of 1957 (P.L. 85-36) prohibited the movement of pests from a foreign country into or through the United States unless authorized by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). It was superseded by the Plant Prote ...

and the

Federal Noxious Weed Act of 1974 Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

Genetically modified plants

:Quoted from the introductory paragraphs of '' Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms'':

The Plant Protection Act provides that the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture may issue regulations "to prevent the introduction of plant pests into the United States or the dissemination of plant pests within the United States." 7 U.S.C. §7711(a). Pursuant to that grant of authority, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) promulgated regulations that presume genetically engineered plants to be "plant pests"—and thus "regulated articles" under the PPA—until APHIS determines otherwise. However, any person may petition APHIS for a determination that a regulated article does not present a plant pest risk and therefore should not be subject to the applicable regulations. APHIS may grant such a petition in whole or in part.

In determining whether to grant nonregulated status to a genetically engineered plant variety, APHIS must comply with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), which requires federal agencies "to the fullest extent possible" to prepare a detailed environmental impact statement (EIS) for "every ... major Federal actio significantly affecting the quality of the human environment." 42 U.S.C. §4332(2)(C). The agency need not complete an EIS if it finds, based on a shorter statement known as an
environmental assessment Environmental Impact assessment (EIA) is the assessment of the environmental consequences of a plan, policy, program, or actual projects prior to the decision to move forward with the proposed action. In this context, the term "environmental imp ...
(EA), that the proposed action will not have a significant environmental impact.

"Plant pest" is defined by CFR Title 7 §340.1 as "Any living stage (including active and dormant forms) of insects, mites, nematodes, slugs, snails, protozoa, or other invertebrate animals, bacteria, fungi, other parasitic plants or reproductive parts thereof; viruses; or any organisms similar to or allied with any of the foregoing; or any infectious agents or substances, which can directly or indirectly injure or cause disease or damage in or to any plants or parts thereof, or any processed, manufactured, or other products of plants." Thus, if

genetic engineering Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including t ...

techniques do not include introduction of such material and only include manipulation of the genomic material of the plant itself the modified organization may petition for determination of nonregulated status. "§340.6 Petition for determination of nonregulated status. (a) General. Any person may submit to the Administrator, a petition to seek a determination that an article should not be regulated under this part." Not regulating plant varieties produced by such genetic editing is considered a loophole by some such as Michael Hansen, a senior scientist at Consumers Union.

References

External links

Text of the Plant Protection Act
United States Department of Agriculture United States federal agriculture legislation 2000 in the environment {{US-fed-statute-stub United States federal environmental legislation Pest legislation