allowable levels of GE contamination in crops and foods. The riders were widely opposed by industry including the Grocery Manufacturers’ Association, the National Grain and Feed Association, the Snack Food Association and the Corn Refiners Association, as well as environmental, consumer and farm groups. Neither the appropriations rider nor the Farm Bill riders were included in any final legislation.
surfaced during a Canadian investigation which found that AquaBounty’s Prince Edward Island facility was contaminated in 2009 with a new strain of Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA),4 the deadly fish flu that is devastating fish stocks around the world. This information was hidden from the public and potentially other Federal agencies and the FDA’s own Veterinary Medicine Advisory Committee (VMAC).
A Fish with a Drug Problem
Looming Battles in 2013
In keeping with holiday tradition, on December 21, 2012, FDA officials released their Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) and opened a public comment period concerning the AquAdvantage Salmon produced by AquaBounty Technologies. The GE Atlantic salmon being considered for approval under FDA’s new animal drug law was developed by artificially combining growth hormone genes from an unrelated Pacific salmon with DNA from the anti-freeze genes of an arctic eelpout. This modification causes production of growthhormone year-round, creating a fish the company claims grows at twice the rate of conventional farmed salmon, allowing factory fish farms to further confine fish and still get high production rates. Since the FDA first announced its approval process for GE salmon in 2010, numerous environmental, health, economic and animal safety concerns have been raised by advocacy groups and the scientific community. A 2011 study published by Canadian scientists concluded that if GE Atlantic salmon males, like those used in the company’s facility, were to escape from captivity they could succeed in breeding and passing their genes into the wild.3 More recently, previously hidden documents
Much remains to be seen about the impact that Prop. 37 will have on other state labeling initiates and where continued opposition to the next generation of GE crops can be maintained. However it is clear that Members of Congress are now ready to intervene on the chemical industry’s behalf and only with the strong will of farmers, advocacy groups and members of industry
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working together will we be able to halt the march toward the further industrialization of agriculture. nnn Colin O’Neil is the Director of Government Affairs at the Center for Food Safety.
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