4 Ways You Can Stop Genetically Engineered Salmon

A school of frightening Frankenfish is steadily swimming towards diners' dinner plates — unless, of course, consumers and advocacy groups can stop it. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved AquaBounty Technologies' AquAdvantage salmon for human consumption, a GE fish that's poised to become the first commercially available transgenic animal product. If the AquAdvantage salmon does fully make its way through the approval process, it could set a dangerous precedent, opening the door for all kinds of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to enter America's food supply.

The FDA's process for approving GE salmon has been, well, pretty darn fishy. For one, the FDA currently has no adequate way of evaluating GE animals' potential health and environmental impacts. Transgenic animals like the AquAdvantage salmon are reviewed as if they're a new animal drug when, in fact, they're a new animal entirely. Using drug guidelines to evaluate a transgenic animal's safety is like comparing apples to oranges — or rather, apples to desk lamps.

While this review process is totally inappropriate for obvious reasons, a bad situation is made worse by the fact that the FDA's acting all cagey in making information about the GE salmon publicly available. Public hearings about GE salmon begin on a Sunday (September 19th) in a location that's difficult to access via public transit — seems like the FDA doesn't want much of the public to attend this "public hearing." Plus, much of the scientific data about these GE salmon is classified by AquaBounty Technologies as a "trade secret." Therefore, AquaBounty legally doesn't (and certainly won't) have to make this info publicly available.

The scientific data we do have on AquAdvantage salmon is murky at best, but it does show that these fish could pose big problems for the environment. For one, AquAdvantage salmon grow twice as fast as their non-GE, Atlantic salmon counterparts. While AquaBounty claims fish would be raised on land, there's no rule dictating that this must be the case. If fish farmers raise GE salmon in ocean pens (the process at many fish farms), the salmon could escape and outcompete wild salmon for food and resources. And while AquAdvantage salmon are bred to be infertile, AquaBounty claims that about five percent of the fish could still breed. If GE fish reproduce with wild salmon, it would forever alter these wild salmon populations, threatening to throw whole ecosystems out of whack.

The fact of the matter is that we just don't know enough about AquAdvantage salmon's potential health or environmental impacts. With America's food system already crippled by safety concerns (salmonella-tainted eggs, anyone?), we must take every precaution and thoroughly examine every item before approving it for production.

Luckily, there's still time to take action against Frankenfish. While the FDA approved GE salmon, President Obama has the power to deny this approval. Food and Water Watch offers step-by-step instructions to help consumers call the White House and express their concerns about these fishy salmon. You can also organize a call-in day (this guide tells you how), asking friends, family, coworkers, and your community to call the Obama Administration and ask the president to squash GE salmon.

Food and Water Watch and Friends of the Earth are also organizing a National Day of Action on Thursday, September 16th. Folks can gather in Washington, D.C. and attend a rally in front of the White House. If you can't make it to the actual rally, calling the White House on the National Day of Action can create a critical mass of people asking President Obama to reject the approval of GE salmon.

Finally, you can help prevent Frankenfish from entering the food supply by signing Food and Water Watch's petition asking President Obama to deny approval of AquAdvantage salmon. By keeping GE salmon off our plates, we can help protect the health of the environment and the safety of American consumers.

Photo credit: Kent Wang via Wikimedia Commons