7 Things You Need to Know About the FDA’s Approval of GMO Salmon
2. AquaBounty, the company farming the fish, hasn’t exactly been winning people’s trust, but they’re also no Monsanto. First off, back in 2008 (as also reported at outsideonline.com), they had an “accident” involving their first commercial-sized batch of the fish, a batch they were raising despite receiving no permission to actually sell the fish anywhere —
AquaBounty believed FDA approval was imminent, and planned to use these fish for test-marketing and PR work when they reached full size. That plan was derailed by “an unusually severe storm” in Panama, as AquaBounty revealed in an August 15, 2008 memo to investors. According to the letter, damage from this storm caused the water inlet system to fail during the night: “[A]ll of these fish were lost. It was intended that the fish, subject to regulatory approval, would be marketed during the first half of 2009.”
Obviously, that first half of 2009 timeline required the FDA approval that just hit yesterday, so they were a tad off on their time estimate. Also, a little bit of investigation from Ari LeVaux at OutsideOnline, revealed that the damage was caused when a tree fell on an intake pipe (he seriously questions whether it was really a result of the storm), interrupting the supply of fresh water and then causing the fish to suffocate. A tad suspicious that this happened to their first ever batch, and certainly not inspiring confidence in the company’s ability to properly handle such a sensitive situation. What really happened to those fish? Did something go terribly wrong and they needed to abort their very first large-sized batch, or was it really just from a downed tree?
Chinook Salmon + Ocean Pout + Atlantic Salmon = AquAdvantage Salmon
Then last October, the company was fined $9,500 by Panama authorities for failing to secure “proper water discharge and water use permits prior to beginning its operations.” For a company on the verge of breaking down a genetically engineered organism barrier, negligence right from the outset is a bad sign, no matter what your opinion may be of the fish itself. (Reported here by Seafoodnews.com) On the other hand, AquaBounty is a very small company (as in 21 employees small!), and one with more nobler aims than most of the other GMOs already in our food supply. You can read more about the company on the AquaBounty website. And visit this page if you’d like to read the full OutsideOnline.com article: http://www.outsideonline.com/1900276/genetically-engineered-salmon-could-soon-run-wild [nextpagelink][/nextpagelink]
