Legislation to ban sale or shipping of genetically modified salmon in the United States, and to require that such products be labeled as genetically engineered was introduced in the US Senate Feb.7 by Senator Mark Begich, D-Alaska.
"Alaska has been supplying the world with nutritious salmon for decades," said Begich, who chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and the Coast Guard. "We cannot afford to experiment with the world's largest wild salmon stocks without the certainty that these fake fish won't pose a serious environmental risk, especially to wild salmon and their habitat.
Begich's move comes six weeks after the Food and Drug Administation (FDA) gave preliminary approval to gen-tech salmon eggs from Aqua Bounty, a Maine company, that would produce fish with the potential to grow to market size in half the time of conventional salmon. If it gets a final go-ahead, that would be the first food from a transgenic animal -- one whose genome has been altered -- to be approved by the FDA.
In a draft environmental assessment, the FDA affirmed earlier findings that the biotech salmon was not likely to be harmful. It said it would take comments from the public on its report for 60 days before making a final decision on approval. With respect to food safety, FDA has concluded that food from AquaAdvantage salmon is as safe as food from conventional Atlantic salmon, and that there is a reasonable certainty of no harm from consumption, the FDA assessment stated.
But FORBES magazine reported that the FDAs assessment had actually been approved by the all the relevant agencies last April, but that its release had been blocked on orders from the Obama administration. That has raised both legal and ethical issues of political interference with science and the independent work of federal agencies, the magazine said.
Alaska congressmen have never made any secret of their opposition to gen-tech salmon, and the Aqua Bounty application has dragged on for eight years.
