Credit to EarthJustice, “Because the earth needs a good lawyer.”- August 9, 2016 –
On July 29th, a new bill was signed into law. The House and Senate passed a bill prohibiting states from labeling Genetically Engineered (GE) fish.
Here’s the problem:
“The fish in question are the spawn of a company called AquaBounty Technologies and are engineered in laboratories to grow twice as fast as wild salmon.
AquaBounty plans to produce the GE salmon eggs on Prince Edward Island, Canada, and send the salmon on a 5,000-mile journey before they reach U.S. supermarkets.
The salmon will be grown to market size in a facility in Panama, processed into fillets, then shipped to the United States for sale. That complicated scheme is only for the initial approval, however.
AquaBounty has publicly announced plans to ultimately grow its GE fish in the United States and other places around the world. Despite this, the FDA has chosen to limit the scope of its review to the Canada and Panama facilities.
U.S. Atlantic salmon, and many populations of Pacific salmon, are protected by the Endangered Species Act and in danger of extinction. A keystone species, salmon have unique runs that have been treasured by human cultures for thousands of years.
But the FDA has failed to study and prevent impacts to these imperiled salmon runs should GE salmon escape or be accidentally released into the environment.
Not only can these engineered salmon crossbreed with wild native fish, they can also threaten wild populations by out-competing them for scarce resources and habitat, or by introducing new diseases.”
EarthJustice is challenging the decision in Court.
(Refer to our article published November 19, 2015, “Frankenfish safe to eat?”)
Leave a Reply