The American pork lobby said on June 25 that after President Donald Trump signed an order to streamline the agricultural technology review process, it was necessary to further simplify the rules for GM cattle.

Trump, elected in 2016 with the broad support of farmers, signed a decree in Iowa on June 11 and said it would accelerate biotechnology reviews.

The National Pork Producers Council hopes this order will weaken the way the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates gene editing, a technology that could be used to change pigs and improve their disease resistance.

The agency “incorrectly classifies livestock as drugs and farms as drug companies,” the board said in a statement. However, the FDA told the Council that, in its view, its approach to gene editing is already in line with Trump's executive order.

The FDA said it is working on order completion and wants to avoid unnecessary barriers to innovation in plant and animal biotechnology. The agency said it does not regulate animals as drugs, but regulates intentional changes in the genomes of animals.

At the same time, the National Pork Producers Council wants the U.S. Department of Agriculture, not the FDA, to regulate gene editing in livestock.