Posted December 11, 2013
 
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to announce its decision on genetically modified salmon soon, according to Liz Ruskin of APRN in an article available here.
 
AquaBounty, a U.S. company, plans to create Atlantic salmon eggs for fish farms that include a Chinook salmon gene.  AquaBounty “hopes to produce fish that grow to market size in half the time.”
 
Senator Mark Begich (D-AK) does not support the company’s plan and has asked FDA to refrain from announcing its decision during the holiday season.  Begich said, “FDA has never approved anything of this nature, which is basically cloning, and from that perspective I don’t think they’re prepared to understand the potential long-term impacts.”
 
FDA received comments from almost 38,000 people about AquaBounty’s plan.  Most did not favor the plan, voicing concerns that modified salmon could escape and damage the state’s wild stocks. 
 
AquaBounty, however, says its “fish will be sterile and reared inland, in Panama, so they can’t escape and harm natural populations.”
 
About a year ago, FDA published a draft environmental assessment and preliminary finding of no significant impact concerning genetically engineered Atlantic salmon.  The Federal Register notice is available here.  Additional information from FDA is available here.
 
Canada recently approved AquaBounty’s plan to produce genetically modified salmon eggs for commercial use at its hatchery on Prince Edward Island.

 

For more information on biotechnology, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
 
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