As the FDA readies the approval seal for genetically modified salmon, scientists are coming out of the woodwork with some colorful expressions of dread.

Leaked internal e-mails from the U.S. Department of Interior’s Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) reveal that government scientists are dubious about the FDA's data. The FDA is required to consult with the FWS to help decide whether the approval would pose a danger to wild Atlantic salmon.

One major fear is that the GM salmon will escape and mingle with wild salmon.

“Especially pointing out that there is no data to support the claims of low survival in the event of escape, which... is a big concern,” FWS geneticist Dr. Denise Hawkins offered to co-workers in an e-mail.

“Maybe they [the FDA] should watch Jurassic Park,” she joked.

Massachusetts-based AquaBounty Technologies engineered the Atlantic salmon with a growth hormone gene from a Chinook salmon and a 'genetic on-switch' from the ocean pout, an eel-like fish that's a distant relative of the salmon.

So while a conventional salmon suspends its growth hormones during periods of cold weather, the ocean pout's on-switch will keep this GM salmon growing year-round without stopping...

This allows a conventional salmon may take three years to reach market size; the GM version would reach it in fewer than two.

But the FWS scientists are far from convinced that enough testing has been done to ensure the safety of wild salmon.

The e-mails were made public as part of a Freedom of Information Act request from Food and Water Watch, a public interest group.

While AquaBounty downplays the risks on escape, Food and Water Watch cites the proposal to grow Aquabounty salmon in a “semi-recirculating system near the coast of Maine that discharges into the ocean” as one of several reasons why the approval process is premature.

Concern arises not just for the possibility of gene transfer; but also for increased competition for resources among the fish.

Food and Water Watch drafted an open letter to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamberg calling for a halt in the approval until more studies can be done.

They cited the e-mails and outlined and numbered their main concerns regarding:

1) Widespread concern among FWS employees over GE salmon escaping fish farms

"I agree that the escapement issue and its potential impact to native stocks is our greatest concern."

— Linda Kelsey, Assistant Regional Director, FWS, 09/30/10

2) Statements of FWS employees regarding the process, level of testing, and unsubstantiated claims made by the FDA

" ...The Environmental Analysis is overly simplistic and does not adequately capture the actual risk of environmental damages to wild Atlantic salmon or the ecosystem. Additional studies will be necessary to assess this risk..."

— Letter from FWS Conservation Genetics Community of Practice, 10/6/10

3) Statements of FWS employees regarding the FDA's level of consultation with FWS

"It’s a little hazy to me how we are supposed to be engaged."

— Paul Phifer (PhD, Assistant Regional Director - Ecological Services, FWS) to Gary Frazer (Assistant Director for Endangered Species, FWS) (10/6/10)

"Hazy to me, too."

— Gary Frazer’s reply

An FWS program supervisor perhaps outlined the fears best: “I think the uncertainty of what will eventually happen to a species if genetically altered animals mix with 'native' stocks is reason enough to oppose this at least until such times that controlled experimentation can take place,” noted Allan Brown in an internal e-mail.

“Fish escape, and once they do, there is no closing that door...”

With the FDA approval all but imminent, that door is starting to creak open.

Let's hope a Jurassic Park-type scenario isn't waiting for us on the other side...

Be Well,

Jimmy