12/21/11
Aan angler who has fished North Coast salmon streams for many years, I’m pleased that we are having relatively strong salmon returns this year. If nature cooperates with normal rainfall and good ocean conditions, and if we continue to invest in habitat restoration, we should see a meaningful improvement to our beleaguered salmon populations in the next few years. For the North Coast, that means more than just good news for the environment; it means jobs.
But just as we see some hope for the commercial and recreational fishing industries that depend on wild California salmon, a new threat is looming — not from dams, or sedimentation, or loss of habitat, but from a CanadianCorporation called AquaBounty which has invented a genetically engineered (“GE”) fish that crosses growth-hormone genes from an ocean pout with a Chinook salmon to dramatically increase the speed and size of the salmon’s growth.
For the past decade, AquaBounty has been trying to secure approval from the federal Food and Drug Administration to market and sell its proprietary GE fish as “salmon” in supermarkets and restaurants throughout the United States. If approved, it would be the first GE animal permitted for sale for human consumption.
Not surprisingly, this has sparked controversy and strong concerns from the scientific, environmental and consumer rights communities. One concern is that if the GE salmon escaped its pens, it could have devastating effects on wild salmon stocks. Another is that selling the GE fish as “salmon” would confuse consumers and undermine prices for the commercial salmon fishing industry.
Despite the controversy, the FDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are working overtime to help AquaBounty. The USDA recently granted $500,000 to AquaBounty to do further research to perfect the engineered fish. This is on top of previous federal grants, now totaling nearly $3 million, to support the research and development of AquaBoun-ty’s GE salmon.
The latest grant comes despite the introduction of an amendment by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, to the 2012 Agriculture Appropriations bill that would prohibit the FDA from using its funding to approve the application for GE salmon, and a similar amendment by Rep.
Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, and Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska (supported by Rep. Mike Thompson) that passed the House of Representatives earlier this year. Until this legislation gets approved by the full House and Senate and signed by the president, federal agencies can continue to dole out public money to AquaBounty, so that is what they have decided to do.
Wild Pacific salmon are a critical natural, cultural and economic resource for California and other Northwest states. Yet many salmon runs in California and the Pacific Northwest have gone extinct, and many more are at risk of extinction. And just last month, a lethal and contagious salmon infection originating from farmed salmon was found in wild salmon in the Pacific Northwest, stirring concern that neighboring salmon populations, including here in California, could be vulnerable to infection.
There is a dire need for research to protect our wild salmon populations, and $3 million could certainly help.
Unfortunately, the FDA seems bent on not only subsidizing but approving AquaBounty’s GE salmon application. That approval will affect Californians’ consumer confidence and their pocketbooks, and it could devastate our commercial salmon fishing industry.
Consumers would have no way to tell whether the “salmon” they purchase is genetically engineered. That’s because the federal government is not requiring AquaBounty to label its product.
This is why I wrote Assembly Bill 88, which requires a label on all GE salmon sold in California — just as Alaska law currently requires — so that consumers can make informed choices. Frankly, if California was not federally pre-empted from doing so, I would introduce legislation, similar to the Murkowski/Woolsey/Young amendments, to ban GE salmon. Short of that, we should at least make sure GE salmon is properly labeled so that consumers know what they are getting.
Our government should not be underwriting the business activities of private corporations like AquaBounty, especially in light of the pending application for FDA approval and the controversy and environmental risk posed by GE salmon. Here in California, requiring proper labeling of this dubious product is the best we can do.
AB 88 will be heard in January when the Assembly reconvenes for session. Please write to members of the Assembly Appropriations Committee and urge them to approve AB 88, or contact my office at 415-479-4920 for information on how you can help ensure passage of this important legislation.
Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, chairs the Assembly Water, Parks & Wildlife Committee and is a candidate for the newly created 2nd Congressional District along the North Coast.
