The USDA ‘rubber-stamped’ the first of many ‘dangerous’ new genetically engineered (GE) seeds Friday under the department’s new streamlined approval process.

The fast-track process allows the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to ‘make a determination of nonregulated status for crops with GE traits that have already been approved in another crop’ without a new review, allowing for a more ‘timely and predictable review process,’ according to Mike Firko, APHIS Acting Deputy Administrator for biotechnology regulatory services.

‘As expected, the fast-track approval process has made it all that much easier for the USDA to rubber-stamp a host of new GE crops,’ Katherine Paul, Associate Director of the Organic Consumers Association, told Common Dreams.

The first products to come down the speedy new pipeline are a host of canola seeds resistant to the ‘dangerous’ herbicide glyphosate, which a recent study linked to a litany of health disorders and diseases including Parkinson’s, cancer and autism.

Already approved is a glyphosate-resistant canola from Pioneer, with other pending petitions for deregulation including Monsanto’s glyphosate-resistant canola and hybridization system corn, as well as Genective’s glyphosate-resistant corn.

‘For years, scientists have warned about the hazards of glyphosate,’ continued Paul, who noted that the FDA recently raised the allowable limit […]