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A bipartisan group of lawmakers is asking the FDA to stop dismissing its opposition to GE salmon. The fish in question is a farm-raised salmon modified so that it can eat year round and fatten up faster.

According to Food Safety News:

House and Senate lawmakers each sent separate letters to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg Friday urging the agency to not approve the fast-growing GE fish, primarily over economic and environmental concerns. The House approved an amendment by Congressman Don Young (R-AK) and Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) last month that would bar the FDA from spending money to approve an application for the controversial salmon.

Seventy-eight percent of the 1,000 U.S. adults surveyed opposed approval of the fish until more research is completed, according to a story A.K. Streeter wrote over at TreeHugger. So it seems lawmakers are listening to the call.

Again Food Safety News:

"FDA hasn't considered all of the potential negative impacts of genetically-altered fish and the strong opposition in Congress to approving something that could decimate wild salmon populations," said Sen. Begich (D-AK) in a statement Friday. "Recent scientific evidence shows that if genetically-modified salmon escape, they could successfully breed with wild stocks, potentially destroying the genetic adaptations that have allowed fish to thrive for millennia. Alaska wild salmon is abundant and sustainable."

Finally, some voices of reason. It's bad enough that 165 million acres of agriculture in this county are genetically modified. It's a frightening situation that just keeps getting worse because the USDA isn't properly vetting GMO crops before deregulating them. To make matters worse the USDA starting outsourcing evaluation to biotech companies themselves because they couldn't seem to handle the onslaught. But the idea that GMO animals are now to be pushed through evaluation at the FDA without taking a long hard look at the environmental repercussions is enough to make you scream.

If they were to come to market, you likely wouldn't even know that you were eating them because they wouldn't be labeled as such. Let's hope that lawmakers keep the pressure on the FDA to think long term.

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