A coalition of 31 consumer, animal welfare and environmental groups and fishermen’s associations is criticizing the potential approval of genetically modified salmon by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Waltham, Mass., biotechnology firm AquaBounty Technologies, last week announced that the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine set up a meeting in mid-September to discuss a potential recommendation regarding the approval of its AquAdvantage® Salmon.
According to AquaBounty, its technology will allow salmon farmers to grow fish to market size of about 8 pounds in just 18 months, compared to the standard 36 months.
But the coalition claimed that approval would represent a “serious threat” to the survival of native salmon populations because genetically engineered fish would escape from net pens and out-compete wild fish for resources.
The coalition pointed to research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that found that the release of 60 genetically engineered salmon into a population of 60,000 wild fish would lead to the extinction of the wild fish in less than 40 generations.
“FDA’s decision to go ahead with this approval process is misguided and dangerous and is made worse by its complete lack of data review,” said Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food Safety. “FDA has been sitting on this application for 10 years and yet it has chosen not to disclose any data about its decision until just a few days before the public meeting.”
In addition to the Center for Food Safety, the coalition includes Food & Water Watch, Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance, Living Oceans Society, Sierra Club, Small Boat Commercial Salmon Fishermen’s Association, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Association and Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association.
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