Import of GMO Salmon is Temporarily Banned by FDA

From:Longevity LIVE

On January 29 2016, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration stopped all genetically engineered salmon from entering America. The ban only covers 2016.

Just two months ago, the public were up in arms after the FDA announced their approval of the import of AquaAdvantage GE salmon. On top of this catalytic decision the FDA took it one step further by announcing they did not require any form of labeling to identify the engineered fish. Today, the FDA have decided to put a ban on the import and sale of the fish until the agency can publish guidelines for how it should be labeled. The mandate reads:

“During FY16 the FDA shall not allow the introduction or delivery for introduction into interstate commerce of any food that contains genetically engineered salmon, until FDA publishes final labeling guidelines for informing consumers of such content.”

This may sound promising,until you realise they are merely saying ‘guidelines’; there is no mention of a clearly defined ‘requirement’ to label all genetically engineered salmon.

By splicing genes from a Chinook salmon and combining them with an ocean pout AquaAdvantage created their hybrid salmon. The reasoning behind this process of genetic mutation was to create a fish that would grow twice as fast and 50% bigger than ocean salmon.

Cape Town based Oceanographer Ceinwen Smith, current residential lecturer at the Organisation for Tropical Studies at the University of Cape Town says, “According to the FDA there is “a negligibly small likelihood” that AquAdvantage salmon will escape and successfully reproduce with wild salmon. While AquAdvantage salmon are reported to be sterile, it is the fertile brooding females who pose the greatest risk should they escape and survive.

Should AquaAdvantage salmon escape into the surrounding environment and be consumed or die and become broken down by bacteria, their genetic material is likely to enter the food web with potentially negative (currently undetectable) consequences to the ecosystem.

Scientists are still struggling to understand and predict the long-term impacts of subtle changes in our complex ecosystems. Thus, the introduction of foreign genetic material into a natural system may have huge cascading effects on an entire ecosystem, ones which we will only see in several generations to come.”

The current decision has at least created more time for discussion. A temporary victory for all the environmentalists, commercial fisherman, health experts and general public that are against any form of genetically engineered salmon. It may take years before consensus is eventually reached in congress and over this period more understanding of the long term effects of genetic engineered animals may be revealed.

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