Download GMO salmon opposition

GMO Salmon: A risky
solution in search of a
problem
Tim Schwab
Senior Researcher, Food & Water Watch
Tulane University
February 19, 2016.
GMO salmon opposition
--International Salmon Farmers Association
“firmly rejects transgenic salmon production.”
--Consumer polls consistently show widespread
public opposition---they won’t eat it
--Leading grocery stores---Kroger, Target, Trader
Joe’s—have pledged they won’t sell it--
BIOTECH LOBBYING EFFORT
$572 million in
campaign
contributions
and lobbying
Trust but never verify
FDA reviews industry data, not
independent science
Absence of evidence= evidence
of absence
Science or Science Fiction?
"Maybe They [the
FDA] Should Watch
Jurassic Park.”
--Denise Hawkins, PhD
FWS Regional Geneticist
Once Fish Escape…..
--Biological containment
--Geographic containment
--Physical containment
Biological Containment
Up to 5% of GMO salmon will be fertile
---FDA Environmental Assessment
Geographic Containment
“-During the spring, summer and
fall, temperatures in the waters
adjacent to the facility are
suitable for salmon survival.”
-FDA Environmental Assessment
Physical Containment
“The damage by an unusually severe
storm caused the water inlet system for
tanks…to fail during the night with the
result that all of these fish were lost. “
AquaBounty Press Release 2008
AquaBounty’s “Fort Knox”
“Officials in Panama have fined the local facility
of a US biotechnology company for a series of
permitting and regulatory failures around a
pioneering attempt to create genetically
modified salmon.”
---The Guardian
AquaBounty’s “Fort Knox”
Environmental Risks
Once fish escape, they can
never be retrieved
Genetic Engineering:
Unintended Consequences
--Genetic engineering combines
genes in a way that would never
happen in nature
-GMO salmon only as closely
related to its gene donor as
human being is to dolphin
Food Safety
---Many statistically significant differences in
nutrition
--Does growth-hormone gene construct
increase hormone levels?
--Allergies---FDA only looked at six fish;
statistically significant differences that FDA
still chose to ignore.
Animal Safety
--“reasonable certainty that AAS is more susceptible
to A. salmonicida than domesticated
comparators...”
--“...The study design was too restrictive in scope to
provide a satisfactory answer” to the question of
whether the overall health of AAS may be
compromised in a commercial setting.
-Department of Fisheries and Ocean Canada
Draft Review
Growth Rates
--FDA only examined growth rates
up to 100 grams, the point at which
you move salmon from fresh water
to salt water.
--Never examined growth rates to
market weight or full life cycle
“A solution in search of a proble
FDA Approval: 11/2015
--FDA approved GMO salmon as safe to
eat; said it needs no label
--YET GMO salmon not yet approved as
safe to produce in USA
FDA Approval: 11/2015
--U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has “strongly
recommend[ed]” an EIS for all grow-out
facilities located in the United States.
FDA Approval: 11/2015
--Congress stepped in and required
FDA to formulate rules on labeling
--FDA declared that imports of
GMO salmon are banned until
labeling rules are in place
Conclusion
“Science-based rules”
developed via intense
biotech industry lobbying;
FDA approvals based on
biased industry science