Let’s help push this AVAAZ petition over the top. http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_frankenfish_r/?bpPHlab&v=21885
- 1,000,000 signatures is the goal
- 974,941 right now. It’s entirely within reach.
UPDATE, Feb 18: 985,374 have signed.
UPDATE, Mar 03: 992,276 have signed.
The New York Times reported in December 2012 that the licensing of GM salmon is likely to go ahead (FDA).
The two-month mandatory public consultations will soon close. Bless AVAAZ for organizing this massive effort to stop the beginning of the licensing of GM meat. See appended which includes links to news reports.
(Click on Genetically Modified if you wish to generate a list of related postings.)
We first sounded the alarm on genetically-modified fish in 2004 with a documentary film from Germany:
I wondereded whether the company behind this latest bid in the U.S. is the same as in 2004? The answer is “yes”:
- Excerpt from the above 2004 posting: “Aqua Bounty”, a Canadian company, is shortly expected to obtain market approval of its sterile, genetically modified giant salmon.
- Excerpt from 2012-12-21 Engineered Fish Moves a Step Closer to Approval, New York Times: Ronald Stotish, the chief executive of AquaBounty, . . . AquaBounty Technologies, the company that developed the salmon, has been trying to win approval for more than a decade. . . . AquaBounty produces its eggs at a facility in Prince Edward Island, Canada.
- Excerpt from 2012-12-22 FDA Pushes to Release Genetically Modified Salmon into Environment (Nation of Change): “AquaAdvantage head Ron Stotish . . .” (The NY Times clarifies, the company is Aqua Bounty and its GM fish are called AquaAdvantage.
The Courts in New Zealand stopped GM animal research in 2009. It’s good to know there are some sane people!
- AGRESEARCH LOSES BID TO EXPAND GM ANIMAL RESEARCH
GE-Free New Zealand won a legal challenge to an AgResearch application to expand its research into GM animals.
http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1112…:ge-free-nz-wins-court-battle-over-agresearch
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THE PETITION
Wow — amazing response! In days, we’ll deliver our petition to the US Food & Drug Administration and create a media storm. Help us reach 1 million by signing and sharing the petition to your right!
Dear friends,
The US is about to treat the world to the first genetically modified meat: a mutant salmon that could wipe out wild salmon populations and threaten human health — but we can stop it now before our plates are filled with suspicious Frankenfish.
The new fake salmon grows twice as fast as the real one, and not even scientists know its long-term health effects. Yet it’s about to be declared safe for us to eat, based on studies paid for by the company that created the GMO creature! Luckily, the US is legally required to consider public opinion before deciding. A growing coalition of consumers, environmentalists, and fishermen is calling on the government to trash this fishy deal. Let’s urgently build an avalanche of global support to help them win.
The consultation is happening right now and we have a real chance to keep mutant fish off the menu. Sign to stop Frankenfish and share widely — when we reach 1 million, our call will be officially submitted to the public consultation:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_frankenfish_r/?bpPHlab&v=21885
The company that developed the Frankenfish altered the DNA of the salmon to create a fish that would grow at lightning speed, year-round. Not only do we not understand its long term health effects, if a few of them or their eggs reached the wild, these super-salmon could decimate entire wild salmon populations. Worse, once they hit supermarkets, we won’t be able to tell apart Frankenfish and real salmon, so there won’t be a way to avoid it!
The biotech industry has spent hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying governments to approve its GM crops. Frankenfish is their next million dollar baby — it could open the floodgates for other transgenic meats. But the US government will consider public opinion before it makes its final decision — if we can stun them with a giant global opposition when they least expect it, we can stop this reckless deal.
Frankenfish is on the verge of being approved — let’s make sure biotech companies don’t decide what we eat. Help build one million voices to stop the mutant fish:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_frankenfish_r/?bpPHlab&v=21885
Avaaz members have come together to protect the natural world and our food system from dangerous meddling. In 2010, over 1 million of us spoke out against genetically modified food in Europe. Let’s come together again to stop Frankenfish.
With hope,
Jamie, Nick, Emma, Dalia, Emily, Paul, Ricken, Wen-Hua and the whole Avaaz team
MORE INFORMATION
Engineered Fish Moves a Step Closer to Approval (NY Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/22/business/gene-altered-fish-moves-closer-to-federal-approval.html
GM salmon: FDA’s assessment of environmental risks (LA Times)
http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-aquabounty-salmon-fda-assesses-risks-20121224,0,2554480.story
Protect our waters from GE Salmon (Center for Food Safety)
http://ge-fish.org/
Below the Surface: The Dangers of Genetically Engineered Salmon (Food & Water Watch)
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/factsheet/below-the-surface/
Genetically Engineered Salmon (Ocean Conservancy)
http://www.oceanconservancy.org/our-work/aquaculture/aquaculture-genetically.html
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