FDA approves genetically modified salmon

FDA's OK of Frankenfish a disaster waiting to happen

It’s the most frightening thing to come out of the water since Jaws!

For years I’ve warned you how the FDA and billion-dollar food companies have been working together to fill our plates with genetically modified corn, soy and even tomatoes.

But it looks like they were just setting us up for the main entrée!

A new type of salmon may be swimming upstream to a supermarket or restaurant near you. It’s a man-made mutation that’s actually three different fish stitched together, and experts are warning it could be a serious threat to our health. v
But unless you act right now, you’ll never have any idea you’re eating it.

Fishing for troubleCall it a monster. Or a genetic stunt. Or even “Frankenfish.”

But if AquaBounty of Massachusetts has its way, there’s only one thing you’ll be calling its new breed of test-tube salmon.

Dinner.

Thanks to a little lobbying from AquaBounty, the FDA has just made America the first country in the world to approve a genetically modified animal for food. It’s called the AquAdvantage salmon — but I wouldn’t be so quick to call it a salmon at all.

Even a hungry bear would turn up his nose at this creature!

You see, the AquAdvantage is actually an Atlantic salmon that’s been injected with hormones from a Chinook salmon and genes from something called an “ocean spout.” That’s a disgusting bottom-dwelling fish that looks like a cross between a bass and a rattlesnake (which is probably what they’ll attempt next).

It’s all a genetic stunt designed to make the fish grow twice as large, twice as fast.

So what could go wrong with playing God, altering DNA to create a monster fish, and serving it to millions of people?

Well, to hear the FDA tell it, nothing. The agency claims the AquAdvantage salmon is nutritionally the same as any salmon you pull out of the water with your fishing pole.

You’ve got to be kidding, right? That’s the same garbage they fed us about GM corn and soy — right before we learned that the crops and the weed killers used on them were causing everything from brain damage to cancer!

And get this — the AquAdvantage salmon is so dicey that the FDA will only allow it to be produced overseas, in Panama and Canada.

That’s right — they’re asking you and your family to eat a fish that they won’t allow anywhere near American waters.

The fact is, the FDA has no idea how dangerous GM fish could be, because they’re not allowed anywhere else in the world. We’ll all be used as human guinea pigs, but experts are already warning that the fish could cause serious allergic reactions and other major health problems.

And the worst part is that you’ll never know when you’re serving one of these Frankenfish to your family. Since the FDA declared AquAdvantage is similar to regular salmon, it won’t have to be labeled at all.

That’s why Dana Perls, a spokesperson with a non-profit that fought against the approval, called it a “flawed and irresponsible” move that “we will come to regret.”

Well, you don’t have to tell me twice.

The only good news here is that lots of retailers seem to be just as grossed out by the idea of Frankenfish as you are.

When it hits the market in the next couple of years, Costco, Target, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and Kroger markets are all saying they’ll refuse to sell it.

That’s a great start. And hopefully it means that other retailers are carefully considering doing the same thing.

So if you want to keep this sea monster off your dinner plate, there are two things you can do right now:

Contact the headquarters for your local supermarket chain and let them know just how you feel about “synthetic salmon” landing on your store shelves.
Reach out to your members of Congress and demand labeling for all GM foods. As I’ve been telling you, there’s a bill dubbed the Deny Americans the Right to Know (DARK) Act sitting in the Senate right now that would keep you from ever knowing which foods are GM.

Maybe if we all apply a little pressure, we can make sure this crazy Frankenfish idea ends up where it deserves.

Dead in the water.

Sources:
“The FDA just approved the nation’s first genetically engineered animal: A salmon that grows twice as fast” Brady Dennis, November 19, 2015, The Washington Post, washingtonpost.com

FDA's OK of Frankenfish a disaster waiting to happen

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This common pill

FDA's OK of Frankenfish a disaster waiting to happen

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