‘Frankenfish’ approval exceeded FDA’s authority, lawsuit charges

It may be the most terrifying fish to come out of the sea since Jaws ­– and it could be coming soon to a dinner table near you.

I warned you in November that the FDA had approved a new genetically-modified salmon called AquAadvantage.

Or, as lots of people have been calling it, “Frankenfish.”

It’s bred to grow twice as large and twice as fast as a normal salmon – and what happens when you eat one is anyone’s guess.

Now the biotech industry is itching to get AquAadvantage and other GMO animals into our supermarkets as quickly as possible – but there’s one big problem standing in the way.

Because a major new lawsuit claims that the FDA didn’t just put us all in harm’s way when it approved GMO salmon for sale.

It actually broke the law.

Fishing for trouble

No matter how safe they try to make it sound, our government is plenty worried about GMO salmon.

You see, when AquAdvantage was first approved, the deal was that it wouldn’t be produced anywhere near America.

The eggs could be hatched in Canada and the salmon could be grown in Panama – but those fishies had better be deader than disco by the time they reached the United States.

That’s right – these DNA disasters were considered too risky for American fish farms. But somehow we’re supposed to believe that AquAdvantage is perfectly safe to eat and feed to our families.

And if that doesn’t make a lick of sense to you… and you’re wondering how these pseudo-salmon ever got approved in the first place… well, you’re not alone.

A dozen leading environmental and consumer groups have just filed a federal lawsuit claiming that the FDA had no authority whatsoever to approve AquAdvantage or any other GMO animal for food.

In fact, it’s starting to look like no government agency has the authority.

You see, the FDA approved AquAdvantage based on a 78-year-old law that allows it to regulate veterinary drugs.

Are you kidding me? This is a law designed for flea-and-tick collars! And they’re using it to make major decisions that affect our entire food supply – and, potentially, our health.

That’s not just stretching the law… that’s like stretching a stick of bubble gum to the moon.

George Kimbrell, senior attorney for Center for Food Safety, one of the plaintiffs in the suit, calls the Frankenfish approval “as unlawful as it is irresponsible.”

The groups are demanding that the FDA be stripped of any jurisdiction over genetically engineered animals until Congress acts to decide which agency has authority.

That sounds like common sense to me.

I wish I could promise you that this lawsuit was going to kill the Frankenfish once and for all. But we all know how powerful the biotech industry is, and they’re going to fight this tooth and nail.

Fortunately, there are a couple things you can do right now to protect yourself from GMO salmon – or whatever test-tube meat they dream up next.

• Email your members of Congress and tell them to ban all approvals of GMO animals for food until we have a system in place that can prove they’re safe. Tell them we shouldn’t be making such important food decisions based on a law that was written when FDR was in office and there were only 48 states.
• Reach out to your local supermarket chain and let them know exactly how you feel about the Frankenfish coming to your stores. Already Costco, Target, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and Kroger are promising not to sell it.

Sources:

“Groups sue FDA over approval of genetically engineered salmon” March 31, 2016, EcoWatch, ecowatch.com