A federal court in Canada has dismissed an appeal of a governmental decision allowing the production and sale of genetically modified salmon.
The appeal was made by Ecojustice, on behalf of the Ecology Action Centre and Living Oceans Society, against Canada's Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Minister of Health and AquaBounty Canada, following a 23 December, 2015 decision that allowed production of AquaBounty’s AquAdvantage salmon in Canada for commercial use.
The Federal Court said the ministers arrived at a decision that was "reasonable and made in the manner prescribed by the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.” As part of the ruling, the court also ordered the appealing parties to pay court costs to the ministries and to AquaBounty.
Since the ministries’ decision, Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency have since approved AquAdvantage salmon for production, sale and consumption in Canada.
“We welcome the decision made by the Court of Appeal. We thank the Ministries of Canada who were extraordinarily thorough and transparent in the review and approval of AquaBounty's applications,” AquaBounty CEO Ronald Stotish said. “Their decisions have now been convincingly reaffirmed in Canada's courts. We have always maintained that our AquAdvantage salmon are sustainably raised, healthy and a nutritious food. We will now focus on advancing our business plan and preparing to launch our product."
