A public comment period will open Tuesday, November 23, regarding whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will require genetically engineered salmon to be labeled.
Following the FDA’s approval of the modified salmon for human consumption last Thursday, U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski said she’ll push back against the agency.
Sen. Murkowski: “I find it very, very troubling. In fact, I’m spitting mad.”
She questioned the legitimacy of the product being called a “fish”, since it splices a gene from an eel into a silver salmon.
Sen. Murkowski: “The resulting organism, this company claims, is going to grow to the size of an Alaskan king salmon in a shorter period of time than that found in nature. Freaky.”
Murkowski says she will include language requiring mandatory labeling of genetically modified fish into an appropriations bill she is working on.
The FDA decision stated the Aquabounty salmon were nutritionally identical to any other farmed salmon, therefore no label is necessary.
