The Clatsop County
Board of Commissioners is urging federal regulators to block approval for a new
genetically-modified salmon.
On Wednesday the
board unanimously approved a resolution asking the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration to reject an application from the Massachusetts-based company
AquaBounty Technologies for its genetically-engineered AquAdvantage
salmon.
On Dec. 21 the FDA
released an environmental assessment that deemed the new salmon safe for the
environment. A 60-day comment period follows before the agency issues a final
ruling.
The AquAdvantage
salmon, created for “fish-farm” aquaculture operations, was developed from an
Atlantic salmon to which growth hormones from two other species – the Pacific
Chinook salmon and the ocean pout – were added. The altered DNA allows the fish
to grow at twice the rate of natural salmon.
The AquAdvantage
would be the first genetically-altered animal approved for human consumption.
Opponents argue the altered fish could threaten wild salmon through
interbreeding and competition for food and habitat.
The company states
that only sterile, female examples of the fish will be bred, and raised
exclusively in land-based facilities. The county resolution says that approval
of the AquAdvantage salmon could eventually result in genetically-modified
salmon being allowed in ocean-based fish farms, where escape and disease are
common. It also notes that the FDA would likely require no labeling identifying
the product as genetically altered, which could lead consumers leery of modified
foods to avoid all salmon.
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