We love wild salmon.
We all know that farmed fish wind up escaping into the wild. We’re more than a little freaked out about genetically modified salmon being farmed in any piece of water connected to…well, any other piece of water. Aren’t invasive Atlantic salmon in the Pacific Northwest bad enough?
Trout Unlimited is leading an effort to let the FDA know that they need to conduct an analysis of the impact of genetically modified salmon before they just go ahead and let the dogs out.
To quote Chris Wood, TU Head Honcho,
“The FDA is close to approving genetically modified salmon for human consumption. This decision could be disastrous for wild salmon in the U.S. and around the world. We simply can’t let it happen.
Please join Trout Unlimited today and tell the FDA to say NO to genetically modified fish.
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If genetically engineered salmon are produced on a commercial scale, fisheries experts say they would inevitably escape into the wild. And if that occurs, it could cause catastrophic damage to the last remaining stocks of wild salmon. We do not question the FDA’s ability to determine potential impacts to humans from eating genetically engineered fish, but they do not have the expertise to evaluate potential impacts on wild salmon. “
What You Can Do
This one’s really easy. Click this link and fill out the form, which will send an email to the FDA letting them know that some analysis is in order.
P. S. You’re a member of TU, right?
I completely understand that these GM escapees could out-compete the wild salmon populations and cause serious problems for many ecosystems in the pacific northwest. However, AquaBounty, a leader in transgenic salmon production, claims that they culture only sterile fish (See reference below.) If this is true, we can assume that these salmon could not breed with wild stocks. If this is in fact the case, would that change your opinion on the matter?
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/a-new-method-against-genetically-modified-salmon-get-retailers-to-refuse-to-sell-it/2013/10/18/6aee28bc-3101-11e3-9c68-1cf643210300_story.html)
Thank you very much, I just wanted to say that I am doing a school project on this and many of the kids in my class are on your side, we do not want gmo salmon polluting our rivers and oceans. Also, the FDA says that it is ok, but they have not got a chance to study the long term affects of this possibly dangerous fish. If you have any more information on this topic, could you please post it so that I could have some more really good information for my project? Thank you very much
-admiring sixth grader