As MIT's Technology Review noted, the Obama administration originally wanted to regulate genetically edited plants for safety, but the current admin scrapped those plans. Perdue said that the USDA is hoping to allow and encourage "innovation when there is no risk present" by taking this no-regulation approach. Although there's bound to be pushback against his agency's decision due to increasing concerns about what we ingest, we could see more and more altered plants from universities and companies like Monsanto working on genetically modified crops.

Perdue said in a statement:

"...I want to be clear to consumers that we will not be stepping away from our regulatory responsibilities. While these crops do not require regulatory oversight, we do have an important role to play in protecting plant health by evaluating products developed using modern biotechnology. This is a role USDA has played for more than 30 years, and one I will continue to take very seriously, as we work to modernize our technology-focused regulations.