FDA Says "No" to Genetically Modified Salmon...For Now

Consumers demand labeling of GM salmon, if approved

Thursday, September 23, 2010 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer

(NaturalNews) The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently held a hearing during which an advisory panel listened to arguments from both sides of the debate concerning the approval of genetically modified (GM) salmon. Massive outcry from consumers, farmers and consumer advocacy groups stalled the FDA's immediate decision in the matter, but opponents of the Frankenfish are now demanding that, if approved later, the FDA will at least require transparent GM labeling.

Of course, practically no average citizen is in favor of AquAdvantage, the trade name given to AquaBounty Technologies' mutant salmon, being approved at all. But hints from the FDA prior to the hearing indicate that the agency sees nothing wrong with the fish, even though no legitimate safety studies have proven it to be safe for human consumption or for the environment.

In fact, practically all of the information about AquAdvantage is being kept confidential because the FDA is approaching GM animal regulation in the same way it does new veterinary drugs.

“We don't know if it's safe for humans to eat and the only research that has been done was done by the company,” explained Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch (FWW), a non-profit conservancy group based in Washington, D.C.

Thirty other groups joined FWW in opposing the approval of AquAdvantage at the hearing, as well as numerous other private citizens and local farmers concerned about the long-term implications of releasing a mutant fish into the environment.

If the FDA decides that AquAdvantage is no different than natural, wild salmon, then current federal laws permit it to be sold without GM disclosure. And if approved, GM salmon will set a precedent for the approval of many other types of GM animals, including common food animals like cows, pigs and chickens.

http://www.naturalnews.com/029825_GM_salmon_labeling.html

FDA refuses to require labeling of genetically modified salmon

Monday, September 27, 2010
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com

(NaturalNews) As the FDA stands poised to approve genetically modified (GM) salmon safe for public consumption, the next logical question concerns how GM salmon would be labeled. Would the fish come with a large red warning that says, “Genetically modified salmon”?

As it turns out, no. In fact, the FDA has already gone on the record stating it will not require any special labeling of genetically modified salmon. You, the consumer, just have to take a wild guess because you're not allowed to know what you're really eating.

The biotech industry takes this absurdity one step further by claiming that labeling GM foods would just “confuse” consumers. David Edwards, the director of animal biotechnology at the Biotechnology Industry Organization, explained it in this way: “Extra labeling only confuses the consumer,” he says. “It differentiates products that are not different.”

Except that they are different. If they were really no different, then AquAdvantage company wouldn't be growing them. The whole point of genetically modified salmon is that they are modified with extra growth hormone genes to make them grow more quickly. I don't know where David Edwards is getting his information, but in the rest of the world, when something is different, that means it's different.

If it's no different, then why are so many GM salmon processes patented? If it's no different, there would be nothing to patent. The entire purpose of a patent is to make a legal claim that “we invented something different” and we own the monopoly rights to it.

The GM salmon industry can't have it both ways, you see. They can't claim it's so unique that their technologies and animals should be proprietary or patented, yet when it comes to food labeling, they claim there are no differences. It's either different or it isn't, and in the case of GM salmon, only an outright liar would look you in the eye and claim GM salmon is identical to regular farmed salmon or wild-caught salmon.


FDA insists on keeping people in the dark
The FDA, for its sad part in this saga, claims that it would be against the law to require the honest labeling of GM foods. This agency claims that since GM salmon is identical to regular salmon (it's “no different” once again, they say), they can't require it to be labeled any differently.

Except, of course, it is different. The genetic code of GM salmon is provably different, and since that genetic code is imprinted in every cell of the fish flesh, consumers are buying genetically modified fish with a different genetic code whose sole purpose was to alter the biochemistry of that fish so that it would grow larger more quickly. Thus, the physical expression of GM salmon is, by definition, different from the physical expression of regular salmon.

When you eat genetically modified salmon, you are eating something that's different from regular (natural) salmon.


Word game trickery
What the FDA and biotech industries are doing with the GM salmon issue is playing word games, trying to confuse consumers with sleight-of-mouth language intentionally designed to mislead and misinform. They've already decided they want to approve GM salmon and they don't want it to be accurately labeled. In essence, they want to trick consumers into buying GM salmon by making them think it's natural salmon.

The trouble with this FDA hucksterism is that the people aren't as stupid as the FDA thinks, and they aren't going to be fooled by this genetically engineered salmon. That's because the minute the FDA approves this Frankenfish, NaturalNews.com and a long list of other websites are going to alert the whole world to the simple truths of the matter:

Truth #1) Genetically engineered salmon is different from regular salmon.

Truth #2) The FDA is going out of its way to make sure GM salmon isn't accurately labeled.

This is a Frankenfood cover-up, pure and simple, and the public is going to be outraged that the FDA would introduce a genetically engineered fish into the food supply without even requiring it to be accurately labeled!


Watch NaturalNews for more breaking coverage of this issue
We'll be watching this issue very closely, waiting for the FDA's final decision. If the FDA decides to yet again betray the American public over this issue, we won't be at all surprised. But we will be vigilant, and we will ask for your help to spread the word and take action to demand that genetically modified salmon be accurately labeled so that consumers know what they're actually buying.

Gee, you would think the FDA might be interested in food labeling honesty. But of course, the more you learn about the FDA, the more you realize every decision the agency makes is a political decision that betrays the rights and safety of the American people.

I don't know about you, but I don't want to eat genetically modified salmon. And I don't want the FDA shoving this down my throat by making me try to guess which salmon is real versus artificially engineered. This Frankenfood shell game must end!

Watch for more news updates on this issue from NaturalNews.com.

http://www.naturalnews.com/029862_salmon_genetically_modified.html

Genetically modified foods are still not fully accepted in our society simply because we are still not ready for this kind of food. Some are not very comfortable eating GM foods because they think that the nutrient they needed is not found there, but still we can't deny the fact that this GM foods help a lot in our food shortage problems. Plants or crops are not only the living things which undergo genetic engineering because animals are also used in this scientific procedure. Just recently a genetically modified beagle was presented to the public. South Korean scientists formed a genetically designed Beagle that lights up green in ultraviolet light. The dog has been designed to aid in medical analysis. Here is the proof: Scientists create glow in the dark Beagle.

— Last Edited by jannaY at 2011-08-09 04:52:38 —