The end of April marked the close of the comment period on FDA review of GE salmon, and nearly 2 million people wrote to FDA opposing approval of the fish. Rather than just wait for FDA to make a decision, we’re taking action by urging Congress to pass the PEGASUS Act, which would ban the approval of GE salmon unless it is reviewed and found safe by expert fisheries agencies.



FDA limited its already minimal environmental review to the local impact of these GE salmon at two isolated locations in Canada and Panama, and based it’s finding of “no significant impact” on the U.S. environment largely on the fact that the fish would not be produced or raised in the U.S.



But internal documents we uncovered reveal that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has already received applications to import AquAdvantage salmon eggs into the U.S. for commercial production.



Agency documents further revealed that scientists within the FWS questioned the FDA’s ability and authority to review the impacts of GE salmon, and that they believed a full Environmental Impact Statement should be conducted before making any decision on approval.



We couldn’t agree more.



That’s why we’re supporting the PEGASUS Act (the Prevention of Escapement of Genetically Altered Salmon in the United States), which would prohibit “the shipment, sale, transportation, purchase, possession, or release in the wild of GE salmon unless the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service complete a full environmental impact statement and find that it will result in no significant impact to the environment.”



The failure to study the impact of U.S. production has grave consequences for our fisheries and the environment. Each year, an estimated two million salmon escape from open-water net pens into the North Atlantic, outcompeting wild populations for resources and straining ecosystems. Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science found that even a small release of GE fish could lead to the extinction of wild populations, wreaking havoc on the fishing industry and the natural ecosystem.



Tell Congress to hold the FDA accountable and protect our health, our environment, and our fisheries from the dangers of genetically engineered salmon by passing PEGASUS!



More information:



For more information on the documents uncovered, click here

More information on PEGASUS, see the text of the Senate bill (S. 246) here, and the announcement of the House bill (H.B. 1667) here