Keep GMO Salmon Off of Store Shelves!
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) just lifted the import ban on GMO salmon. Since FDA doesn’t require GMO salmon to be labeled clearly on the package, it could easily sneak onto your plate without you even realizing what you’re eating!
But because Center for Food Safety members (like you!) wrote to grocery stores across the country, more than 80 food companies—including Kroger, Walmart, Costco, Albertson’s, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and many more —have made commitments never to sell this GMO salmon. Now that GMO salmon is available to be sold in the U.S., their commitments not to sell this dangerous product will be put to the test.
If GMO salmon becomes common on store shelves, we’ll all have to face the environmental and public health consequences of the biotech industry’s gamble in developing it. While corporations continue to engineer fish and push for their commercial use, scientific evidence mounts regarding the extraordinary environmental danger these fish pose, including potential extinction of the wild salmon population.
If we don’t nip this GMO salmon in the bud by giving companies this feedback, it’s only a matter of time before the biotech industry launches other GMO animals for human consumption. AquaBounty Technologies, the company that made GMO salmon, is already working on genetically engineered tilapia and trout for commercial approval, while others are developing other genetically engineered catfish and salmon. There are dozens of other genetically engineered animals in development as well, such as chickens, pigs, and cows, engineered to fit within a factory farming model. And why risk the environmental consequences of GMO salmon, especially when poll after poll shows that consumers don’t want to eat it?
Even though this salmon is the first GMO animal to enter our food system, FDA did not approve GMO salmon responsibly. The flawed process FDA used was intended to evaluate the safety of “animal drugs,” not GMO animals meant for human consumption!
This GMO salmon won’t even be labeled on the package. GMO labeling standards allow companies to hide the fact that a product has GMOs under a “QR code,” which are clunky, time-consuming, and require both a smartphone and a broadband internet connection to access.
Tell the stores that pledged never to sell GMO salmon how important that commitment is to you.
Thanks for all you do,
Center for Food Safety team
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