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Ready to eat: the first GM fish for the dinner table
Keith Addison Wed, 26 Dec 2012
<http://www.mail-archive.com/sustainablelorgbiofuel@lists.sustainablelists.org/msg78153.html>
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<http://truth-out.org/news/item/13594-obama-administration-gives-tentative-approval-to-frankenfish>
Obama Administration Gives Tentative Approval to Frankenfish
Friday, 28 December 2012 11:25
By Dan Bacher, The Fish Sniffer | Report
On December 21, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a
draft environmental assessment (EA) finding, in spite of much
evidence to the contrary, that genetically engineered (GE)
AquaAdvantage salmon pose no risk to the environment.
The document claimed that the fish "will not have any significant
impacts on the quality of the human environment of the United
States." It also claimed that the GE salmon, the first ever intended
for human consumption in the United States, is unlikely to harm
populations of wild salmon.
The finding occurs as the Obama administration is continuing and
expanding some of the worst environmental policies of the Bush
administration, including exporting record amounts of water out of
the Delta, killing record numbers of fish at the Delta pumping
facilities and promoting the privatization of the fisheries through
the "catch shares" program.
The FDA made the finding in spite of a petition from conservation
groups requesting that it complete a comprehensive environmental
impact statement on the risks GE fish could present to the natural
marine environment.
Earthjustice filed that petition in May 2011 on behalf of the Ocean
Conservancy, Food & Water Watch, Friends of the Earth, Center for
Food Safety, the Center for International Environmental Law and
Greenpeace.
"FDA's narrow analysis fails to seriously consider the risks these
genetically engineered fish could pose to our natural environment,"
said Earthjustice attorney Khushi Desai. "If these fish mix with wild
salmon, the ecological harm could be devastating. This genetically
engineered fish puts the entire US salmon industry at risk, and most
importantly it could threaten the very survival of our native salmon
populations."
After more than a decade of behind-the-scenes work with the GE fish
sponsor, AquaBounty Technologies, the FDA announced last fall that it
intended to approve AquaBounty's application. In response, the public
sent over 400,000 comments to the FDA opposing the "Frankenfish" and
demanding mandatory labeling of any GE fish approved for sale to US
consumers, according to a statement from Earthjustice.
"Materials submitted to the FDA by the owner of the GE salmon,
AquaBounty, raise serious, unanswered concerns regarding potential
destruction of wild salmon populations," according to Earthjustice.
"These concerns are significant enough to warrant a more thorough
environmental impact statement, as required under the National
Environmental Policy Act."
In the draft EA released Friday, the FDA accepts AquaBounty's
representation that no fish will escape, survive, or reproduce in the
wild-even though that type of security cannot be guaranteed.
Conservationists, fishermen and consumer advocates take the company
at its word that this is just their first step in a broader plan to
produce these GE fish and others like them around the world.
Vast majority of consumers oppose Frankensalmon
Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch, slammed the
FDA decision to tentatively approve Frankensalmon.
"Despite insufficient testing and widespread opposition, AquaBounty's
genetically engineered (GE) salmon took the final step towards
becoming the first FDA-approved genetically engineered (GE) food
animal," Hauter said in a statement. "The Food and Drug
Administration released its draft Environmental Assessment, clearing
the way for this transgenic organism to be approved by the agency
under its new animal drug approval process.
"Food & Water Watch is far from alone in condemning this historic
decision - one that disregards numerous polls revealing that the vast
majority of consumers oppose GE salmon. Over 40 members of Congress
and scientists at other federal agencies, including the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service, have also voiced strong opposition to GE salmon, citing the
lack of scientific rigor and expertise at the FDA," she noted.
"To add insult to injury, this product may be hitting the market
without labeling, meaning that concerned consumers who have demanded
labeling will be unable to identify GE from non-GE salmon. Not only
does this ignore our fundamental right to know what we are putting on
our plates, it is simply bad for business, as many will avoid
purchasing any salmon for fear it is genetically engineered," she
stated.
The Obama administration tentatively approved the Frankensalmon less
than 2 months after Proposition 37, the initiative calling for the
labeling of genetically engineered (GE) food in California, was
narrowly defeated on November 6. Pesticide companies, led by Monsanto
and Dupont, and other corporations spent nearly $50 million to defeat
the grassroots effort.
Hauter noted that the FDA, tasked with protecting consumer safety,
failed to conduct the appropriate studies to determine if it is safe
to eat or even if the fish can live up to AquaBounty's claim of
faster growth rates. And, by releasing an environmental assessment
instead of a more thorough environmental impact statement, the FDA
failed to fully consider the threat this controversial new fish could
pose to wild fish populations.
"Congress can still keep FDA from unleashing this dangerous
experiment," Hauter said. "Bipartisan legislation would ban the
commercialization of this controversial fish. Food & Water Watch will
be examining legal options to force FDA to do a more thorough
assessment of this new GE food animal."
Although Hauter said this latest FDA decision is a blow to consumer
confidence, she encourage everyone to contact their members of
Congress and demand this reckless decision be overturned. She also
said Food & Water Watch and its allies will be collecting comments to
deliver to the FDA during their public comment period.
Jaydee Hanson of the Center for Food Safety noted that the
environmental assessment says that the comment period is 30 days, but
the Federal Register notice says 60 days.
"I have confirmed with the relevant FDA staff that the Federal
Register notice is correct. So 60 days for comment are in order,"
said Hanson.
Caleen Audrey Sisk, Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem Wintu
Tribe, urges everybody to sign Food & Water Watch's petition telling
Congress to stop the approval of GE salmon.
"Please sign on to this request to keep GE salmon, the Frankenfish,
off the market. These Frankenfish are sure to kill wild Chinook
salmon!" said Sisk.
The Obama administration's abysmal record on salmon, fish and water
The Obama administration's tentative approval of GE salmon for human
consumption occurs in the context of an administration that has
continued and expanded some of the most odious environmental policies
of the Bush administration.
The Obama administration is the first-ever federal administration to
officially endorse the construction of a peripheral canal or tunnel,
a project that will hasten the extinction of Central Valley salmon,
Delta and longfin smelt and other fish species by diverting massive
quantities of water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to
corporate agribusiness and southern California.
The Obama and Brown administrations also presided over record Delta
water exports and massive fish kills at the state and federal pumping
facilities in 2011. The record water exports resulted in the
"salvage" of a record 9 million Sacramento splittail and over 2
million other fish including Central Valley salmon, steelhead,
striped bass, largemouth bass, threadfin shad, white catfish and
sturgeon.
These fish kills couldn't occur at a worse time. An analysis by the
Golden Gate Salmon Association (GGSA) has found that since year 2000
over one hundred million fish (102,856,027) have been sucked into the
Delta pumps. This figure includes twenty six million valuable game
fish, many of which are endangered.
This is in spite of the fact that the Central Valley Project
Improvement Act, signed by President George H.W. Bush in the fall of
1992, set a goal of doubling the Bay-Delta watershed's Chinook salmon
runs from 495,000 to 990,000 wild adult fish by 2002. The legislation
also mandated the doubling of other anadromous fish species,
including Central Valley steelhead, white sturgeon, green sturgeon,
striped bass and American shad, by 2002.
Rather than doubling, the Central Valley Chinook salmon fishery has
suffered a dramatic collapse over the past decade, now standing at
only 13 percent of the population goal required by federal law.
As if tentatively approving GE salmon, fast-tracking the construction
of the peripheral tunnels, exporting record amounts of water from the
Delta, killing millions of fish in the Delta pumps and refusing to
enforce the Central Valley Project Improvement Act wasn't enough, the
Obama administration has promoted the privatization of fisheries
through the "catch shares" program.
"Under the guise of conservation, a system called 'catch shares' is
being pushed by the government and larger members of the fishing
industry alike to make a public resource, our fish, like private
property," according to Food & Water Watch. "Traditional, small-scale
fishermen are being pushed out of the industry as these shares are
handed out for free with most going to larger, industrial fishing
operations. Worldwide, catch share programs have meant fewer jobs for
fishemen - and the effects spread to whole communities - fewer
fishermen means less dollars for local shops, restaurants and more.
For consumers, it can mean lower quality fish and a further reliance
on industrially processed foods."
Here is a link to the Federal Register notice.
http://www.ofr.gov/(X(1)S(3wgpeabwc3u0oolrf5h5u1ls))/OFRUpload/OFRData/2012-31118_PI.pdf
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