Alaska Beat

FDA ignored FWS and NOAA biological opinions on GMO salmon?

Documents released in October indicate the The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service issued biological opinions that growing genetically modified salmon in marine net pens would pose a threat to wild Atlantic salmon protected under the Endangered Species Act and should be prohibited. A FOIA request by the Center for Food Safety, a non-profit group which says its mission is "to protect human health and the environment by curbing the use of harmful food production technologies and by promoting organic and other forms of sustainable agriculture," resulted in the release of biological opinions issued by the agencies in 2003 and 2001, as well supplemental documents. The documents indicate that the FDA was aware of the opinions as it conducted recent hearings over AquaBounty's genetically modified AquAdvantage salmon. Read more of the non-profit's statement concerning the documents, and find links to the documents themselves, here.

Craig Medred

Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

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