| Abstract: | The Environmental Protection Agency is asserting regulatory control over the commercial production of genetically-engineered microorganisms, such as oil-eating bacteria, intended for release into the environment. EPA's legally-complex claim that such organisms are "new chemical substances," and thus subject to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), raises a challenge to the adequacy of regulation by the National Institute of Health's Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC) over the commercial and ecological implications of environmental release. Industry, which has been voluntarily adhering to the RAC guidelines, is reluctant to challenge application of the relatively lenient TSCA requirements but eager to see the legal uncertainties resolved. |
