Salmon being harvested off the coast of Maine, 2008. Photo : Robert F. Bukaty ( AP ) The Food and Drug Administration announced on Friday that it is lifting an import ban that prevented a brand of genetically modified salmon—dubbed “Frankenfish” by some—from reaching U.S. shopping selves, CNN reported. Advertisement The FDA originally cleared AquaAdvantage salmon, which is genetically engineered to grow year-round and thus reach the market twice as fast as unmodified salmon, in 2015 following a lengthy, years-long review, CNN wrote. However, Congress passed a law in 2016 mandating the formation of labeling guidelines informing customers that the fish was genetically modified—standards that weren’t finalized until late last year. CNN reported: In December, the [U.S. Department of Agriculture] issued the standard, requiring manufacturers, importers and certain retailers to disclose whether a product was bioengineered using either text, a symbol, a electronic or digital link, and/or a text message. On Friday, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said because of the 2016 law and the USDA’s standard, his agency “no longer has the authority to issue labeling guidance.” “However, the FDA believes this Congressional mandate has been satisfied by the USDA’s issuance of final regulations implementing that law in late 2018 because the law and regulations require that human food containing GE salmon bear labeling indicating that it is bioengineered,” Gottlieb said in a statement. According to the Star Press, the company behind AquaAdvantage, AquaBounty, has a fish farm in Albany, Indiana that was awaiting regulatory approval to begin importing fish eggs from another company facility on Prince Edward Island in Canada. Seafood industry publication IntraFish reported that AquaBounty’s worth exploded by $50 million almost immediately following the FDA announcement. (While it was trading in the range of $2-2.25 for much of the week, its stock briefly broke $5 late on Friday.) The FDA found that AquaAdvantage salmon pose no risk to human health, are healthy themselves, and would have no significant impact on the environment. As the Washington Post noted in 2017, the fish are designed to be exclusively female as well as sterile, though the process is not entirely effective, and AquaBounty’s Prince Edward Island facility is surrounded by salt water, where it believes the eggs cannot survive. The fish is already available in limited qualities on the market in Canada, where labeling is discretionary and up to grocers, the Post added. As the Associated Press reported, however, a “coalition of consumer, environmental and fishing groups” filed a lawsuit asking for the FDA’s approval of the fish to be overturned. That suit is still pending. “We think a remedy in our case would stop sale of the fish before they’re allowed to be sold,” George Kimbrell, a legal director for the Center for Food Safety, which is opposing the approval in court, told the AP. Advertisement Kimbrell told the AP that his organization had concerns that the fish could escape and breed with unmodified salmon in the wild, as well as that disclosure rules only mandate the use of the relatively unfamiliar term “bioengineered” and can hide even that language behind a scannable QR code on the package. The labeling implementation won’t start until 2020, and compliance won’t be mandatory until 2022, the AP wrote. “A loophole has now been created that will allow the first genetically modified animal engineered for human consumption to enter the US market: GMO Atlantic salmon,” the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations executive director Noah Oppenheim told the SF Bay Area Independent Media Center. “Fishermen have been fighting against the possibility of these F rankenfish entering our waters and our markets for years, and we won’t stop now.” Advertisement The salmon is the only genetically modified animal approved by the FDA to be sold as food to humans, though many other products are likely to follow in AquaAdvantage’s wake. According to the AP, AquaBounty says that it expects its Indiana farm to soon receive final certification, and the salmon will take about 18 months to grow to a harvest size of 10 pounds after they arrive. [CNN/Star Press/AP]<doc-sep>The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has lifted a ban on genetically-engineered salmon imports, allowing the company AquaBounty to export eggs it is producing at its facility in Bay Fortune, P.E.I. In a news release, AquaBounty's CEO Sylvia Wulf said the company is aiming to send the eggs to its plant in Indiana, where they will be hatched and grown to market size. "We will immediately start the process to import AquAdvantage eggs from our hatchery in Canada to begin grow out at our Indiana facility," said Wulf. The FDA import ban was put in place three years ago, after the U.S. Congress demanded labeling guidelines for genetically-modified salmon be determined first. Last year, a decision was made that it will be mandatory to disclose if a food is bioengineered. The FDA says that decision allowed for the import ban to be lifted. The value of the company's stock on the NASDAQ market doubled Friday on the announcement of the news. More P.E.I. news<doc-sep>
In a move that has been slammed by opponents, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has lifted an import alert that prevented controversial genetically engineered salmon from entering the US market. The long running battle previously came to a head in 2016 when Congress blocked the FDA from allowing AquaAdvantage Salmon to appear in grocery stores after the food watchdog declared the product, which critics have dubbed “frankenfish,” safe to eat. That year also saw Congress pass a law directing the US Department of Agriculture to set a national mandatory standard for disclosing genetically modified foods. The USDA finally issued the guidelines in December 2018. It uses the term ‘bioengineered’ instead of the more commonly used ‘genetically modified’ or ‘genetically engineered’, and allows ‘bioengineered’ ingredients to be disclosed in several different ways: in text, a symbol, a digital link printed on packaging, or text message. In a fresh statement on genetically engineered salmon, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said because of the 2016 law and the new USDA standard, the FDA “no longer has the authority to issue labeling guidance.” However, his administration is satisfied that the salmon has met the criteria and it lifted the import alert, allowing AquaAdvantage Salmon eggs to be imported to the company’s facility in Indiana and raised into salmon for food. Senator Lisa Murkowski said she is “extremely disappointed” with the FDA’s “short sighted” decision, labeling it “wrong-headed.” Also on rt.com French & German farmers forced to destroy crops after GMOs found in Bayer/Monsanto seeds The Alaskan Republican argues that the USDA’s new guidelines are confusing and don’t give consumers clear information about where their food comes from. READ MORE: Putin orders Russian brand of ‘green’ non-GMO produce to be set up “I continue to have serious concerns about splicing DNA from two animals to produce a new marketable fish, essentially creating a new species. American consumers deserve to know what they purchasing, and ultimately eating,” she said. The AquaAdvantage Salmon grows faster than farm-raised salmon and can also be grown throughout the year. It is produced by AquaBounty technologies, a Massachusetts company that specializes in genetically engineered fish. Like this story? Share it with a friend!