Rights Groups Protest Regulatory Body’s Endorsement Of Genetically Engineered Fish

Environmental groups in the United States have criticised the government for endorsing the sale of the world’s first genetically-engineered fish, called the AquAdvantage salmon.

The Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), the US equivalent of NAFDAC in Nigeria, gave its blessings to the commercial-quantity production and sale of the fish, calling it safe to eat.

The AquAdvantage salmon has had its DNA engineered to make it grow twice as fast as a usual one. This means that it only needs 16 to 18 months to grow to market size compared to 32-36 months a usual one requires, RT noted .

The FDA has ruled that the recombinant DNA (rDNA), which contains a growth hormone gene, meets the definition of a drug, RT reported.

“The FDA has thoroughly analyzed and evaluated the data and information submitted by AquaBounty Technologies regarding AquAdvantage Salmon and determined that they have met the regulatory requirements for approval, including that food from the fish is safe to eat,” RT quoted Director of FDA’s Centre for Veterinary Medicine, Bernadette Dunham, as saying.

However, environmental rights groups are against the FDA’s decision not to require the producers of the fish to label it as “genetically modified” when it is to be sold in US stores.

This, they argued, goes against the right of people who may not wish to consume food that has been genetically-engineered.

Friends of the Earth, US says it will continue to “listen to the majority of consumers that don’t want to eat this poorly studied, unlabeled genetically engineered fish.”

The rights groups also raised the issue of the GE fish crossbreeding with normal ones, but the FDA argued that since the AquAdvantage salmon is reproductively sterile, it would not be able to crossbreed.

Also, the FDA says it has directed the manufacturers not to breed the GE fish on American soil, but could do so from neighbouring countries of Panama or Canada.

The Center for Food Safety threatened to take the matter to court, saying the FDA has neglected its responsibility to protect the American public