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 Five years ago, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration first declared
the product, made by Massachusetts-based AquaBounty Technologies, to
be as safe as conventional farm-raised Atlantic salmon.
AquaBounty's product will not require special labeling because it is
nutritionally equivalent to conventional farm-raised Atlantic
salmon, the FDA said on Thursday.
AquaBounty developed the salmon by altering its genes so that it
would grow faster than farmed salmon, and expects it will take about
two more years to reach consumers' plates as it works out
distribution. AquaBounty is majority owned by Intrexon Corp, whose
shares were up 7.3 percent at $37.55 in afternoon trading.
AquaBounty says its salmon can grow to market size in half the time
of conventional salmon, saving time and resources. The fish is
essentially Atlantic salmon with a Pacific salmon gene for faster
growth and a gene from the eel-like ocean pout that promotes
year-round growth.
Activist groups have expressed concerns that genetically modified
foods may pose risks to the environment or public health. Several on
Thursday said they would oppose the sale of engineered salmon to the
public, while some retailers said they would not carry the fish on
store shelves.
Kroger Co, the nation’s largest traditional grocery chain, has “no
intention of sourcing or selling genetically engineered salmon,”
spokesman Keith Dailey said. Trader Joe's and Whole Foods Market Inc
also confirmed that they do not intend to carry the product.
Target Corp eliminated farm-raised salmon in favor of wild-caught
salmon in 2010, which spokeswoman Molly Snyder said was the first
step in a long-term commitment to improving the sustainability of
our seafood assortment. "We are not currently planning to offer
genetically engineered salmon," Snyder said.
AquaBounty Chief Executive Ronald Stotish said the approval is "a
game-changer that brings healthy and nutritious food to consumers in
an environmentally responsible manner without damaging the ocean and
other marine habitats."
The approval for the fish, to be sold under the AquAdvantage brand,
requires that the salmon be raised only in two designated land-based
and contained hatcheries in Canada and Panama, and not in the United
States. All of the fish will be female, and reproductively sterile,
to prevent inadvertent breeding of the genetically modified fish
with wild salmon, FDA officials said.
The agency on Thursday also issued draft guidelines on how food
manufacturers could identify whether the salmon in their products
are genetically modified. The guidelines state that such labeling
would be voluntary.
Stotish said in an interview that AquaBounty will follow the FDA’s
rule for labeling and currently “there would be no requirement for
labeling."
"Frankly, it’s an area that we don't have to address today,” he
said.
CREDIBLE EVIDENCE
Dr. William Muir, a professor of genetics at Purdue University who
had urged the government to approve the salmon, said there is "no
credible evidence" that these genetically modified fish are a risk
to either human health or the environment.
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"The current practice of using wild-caught salmon as a food source
is not sustainable, our oceans are overfished," Muir said.
Muir was among 80 scientists and biotech industry executives who in
2014 sent a letter to President Barack Obama asking for
administration support for this approval.
AquaBounty's salmon was originally developed as a fast-growing
variety by a group of Canadian public university scientists over a
quarter of a century ago, and the company has been trying to get
regulatory approval for almost two decades, said Dr. Alison Van
Eenennaam of the University of California, Davis, who served on the
2010 FDA Veterinary Medicine Advisory Committee which looked at the
AquaBounty salmon.
She called the FDA's five-year decision-making process on the fish
"unprecedented" and said the approval was "long overdue." FDA policy
analyst Laura Epstein told reporters that because the approval was
the first of its kind, the agency wanted "to get everything right"
and offer many opportunities for public comment.
FDA spokeswoman Juli Putman said AquaBounty first began a
conversation with FDA in the mid-1990s. She said the agency reviewed
data and information from the company as it was submitted, up until
July of this year.
Joe Perry, former chair of the European Food Safety Authority, said
European regulators would require a lot more data than the FDA
before giving a similar green light to engineered salmon.
U.S. consumer and environmental groups also renewed their opposition
to the product.
Patty Lovera, assistant director for Food & Water Watch, said the
group is talking to members of Congress about rolling back the FDA
approval. The group is also considering a lawsuit to block
genetically modified salmon from reaching the market.
Activist group Friends of the Earth estimates that at least 35 other
species of genetically engineered fish, along with chickens, pigs
and cows, are under development. The FDA's decision on salmon may
set a precedent that could make approval for other genetically
modified animal species easier.
FDA officials would not comment on whether it has received any other
applications for genetically modified animals.
(Additional reporting by Nandita Bose in Chicago and Lisa Baertlein
in Los Angeles)
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