Legislation Will Prevent Approval of Frankenfish

Legislation Will Prevent Approval of Frankenfish

by Dan Bacher

On the eve of Halloween, we have an opportunity to stop a real life horror show - the Obama administration's fast-track approval of genetically engineered salmon for human consumption.

Representative Don Young of Alaska has introduced a clear and concise bill, HR 6265, to prevent the approval of genetically engineered salmon and other fish.

The bill amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act by adding at the end the following new paragraph: "Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, a genetically engineered fish shall be deemed unsafe under this section."

Food and Water Watch, environmental groups, Tribes and fishing organizations are urging other Representatives to co-sponsor the bill. Marie Logan, Researcher and Policy Analyst of the Fish Program of Food and Water Watch, is circulating a copy of a sign-on letter that urges our representatives in Congress to co-sponsor HR 6265.

"We are writing to request that you co-sponsor H.R. 6265, or similar legislation in the Senate, which would define genetically engineered (GE) fish as unsafe under Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act," the letter states. "We also ask you to urge President Obama to immediately put a stop to the pending approval by the Food and Drug Administration of the first GE organism for human consumption - AquaBounty Technologies (AquaBounty) AquAdvantage® salmon."

"The flawed approval process is poised to result in a product being released into the environment and sold to consumers that could have significant adverse health and environmental impacts. We urge you to act quickly to safeguard U.S. consumers, fishing and coastal communities, and the environment," the letter notes.

AquaBounty's GE product is a bizarre and scary concoction of three species, a transgenic Atlantic salmon egg in which genes from an ocean pout have been inserted into the genes of Chinook salmon, and then inserted into an Atlantic salmon. The egg is meant to produce a fish that grows about twice as fast to market size as a non-altered Atlantic salmon in order to increase profits for aquaculture corporations.

"Given the inappropriate approval process, the lack of transparency for over ten years regarding this particular application, and the myriad of potential human health and ecological risks associated with production and consumption of GE animals, the AquAdvantage® salmon should not be approved for human consumption. We urge you to support H.R. 6265 or similar legislation in the Senate and request that you write President Obama and ask him put the brakes on the current FDA approval process and require a comprehensive environmental statement to address the various concerns addressed in this letter," the letter concludes.

Caleen Sisk-Franco, chief and spiritual leader of the Winnemem Wintu (McCloud River)Tribe, points out the absurdity of the federal plan to approve genetically engineered salmon at the same time the same government is skeptical of the tribe's plan to return winter run chinook salmon to the McCloud above Shasta Dam.

"The GE salmon, which many have nicknamed Frankenfish, have been spliced with a poutfish gene and a growth hormone so it'll grow twice as fast," said Sisk-Franco in her article in the California Progress Report (http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/site/?q=node/8204). "While the FDA is assessing their safety based on AquaBounty's own flawed studies, anyone with common sense can see Frankenfish poses a great threat to wild salmon."

"If they escape into the ocean, they'll compete with wild salmon for food, contaminate the gene pool and possibly cause extinctions. This comes at a time when Pacific salmon runs have recorded historically low numbers, and when many, including my tribe, fear they may soon be lost forever. AquaBounty is like coyote building with sticks, and the GE salmon are as shoddily constructed as coyote's children," she stated.

"Thus, we find it ironic that the government is fast-tracking the GE salmon yet skeptical about our own unorthodox but far safer plan to return Chinook salmon to our river, the McCloud," she said.

Meanwhile, Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine just joined the ranks of those who are expressing serious concerns about the FDA’s potential approval of GE salmon for the marketplace, according to Food and Water Watch. On October 26, Snowe wrote a letter to FDA Commissioner of Food and Drugs Dr. Margaret Hamburg, asking the FDA to halt the current review process, which she described as “inadequate and inappropriate." She requested that the FDA commit to holding more public hearings to allow for feedback.

"Given the precedent-setting nature of this decision, the FDA would be remiss if it did not carry out an extremely robust and transparent review process specifically established to address the concerns and intricacies unique to this unprecedented situation,” said Senator Snowe. “This is simply an unsuitable process by which to evaluate the safety of food for human consumption.”

Although she is critical of the process, Snowe has not officially come out against the approval of GE salmon. She is the 13th senator to express concern about FDA’s approval process.

For more information about supporting the campaign to stop the approve of GE salmon, contact Marie Logan at Food and Water Watch: mlogan [at] fwwatch.org, http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org.