- SEATTLE, WA -- On Saturday,
Dec.7, Washington State's Fish and Wildlife Commission adopted sweeping
new regulations permanently banning genetically engineered salmon from
fish farms in all its marine waters. The move comes in the wake of repeated,
large-scale escapes of farmed fish, and heavy media coverage of recent
biotech industry blunders including food crop contamination incidents.
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- The tough new state regulations placed on fish farms
operating in Puget Sound and other coastal areas were adopted against a
backdrop of growing scientific evidence that federal agencies have consistently
put the environment and public health at risk by failing to prevent the
unintended and uncontrolled release of genetically engineered organisms.
The new rules will require state agencies to implement significant new
enforcement and oversight measures to address the serious negative impacts
of poorly regulated fish farms.
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- "Simply engineering designer fish and dropping them
into our public waterways puts already endangered salmon at greater risk
of extinction," said Shawn Cantrell, Friends of the Earth's Northwest
regional director. "Washington State has taken a bold step to protect
the environment by permanently banning genetically engineered fish."
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- Genetically engineered, or "transgenic," fish
are made-to-order creatures, custom-designed to possess certain "desirable"
traits otherwise impossible to acquire in nature by breeding of any kind.
They are often the product of much trial and error, created by scientists
who alter their DNA in laboratories by inserting genetic material culled
from different animals, insects, plants, bacteria and viruses (in virtually
endless combinations). One company, A/F Protein, has developed an Atlantic
salmon genetically super-charged to grow four to six times the rate of
"normal" salmon. The consequences of engineering such life, and
the technology used to accomplish it is still highly experimental, poorly
understood and alarmingly unpredictable.
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- "The introduction of transgenic fish into fish farms
could have led to a major ecological disaster," said Joel Hanson,
a citizen activist who helped persuade the Fish and Wildlife Commission
to adopt the ban. "I am very pleased Washington State will not allow
such a risky technology into our marine waters."
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- Scientists from Purdue University determined that, if
just 60 transgenic salmon escaped from fish farms and joined a population
of wild salmon, the wild population could become extinct in 40 generations.
A new study by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has also recognized
the immediate and serious human health, environmental and ethical concerns
associated with the use of genetically engineered animals, including fish,
in the food supply.
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- In addition to the ban on transgenic fish, the new rules
adopted by Washington State are intended to address other serious risks
that fish farms pose to naturally occurring fish and wildlife and their
habitat. In response to significant public outcry, the rules were strengthened
to include:
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- 1 Improved procedures to prevent escapes,
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- 2 Limiting duration of permits to five years,
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- 3 Better disclosure of drug and pesticide treatments
used on the fish,
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- 4 At least annual inspections of every facility and
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- 5 Expanded public and agency review of permit applications.
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- "Several hundred thousand Atlantic salmon have escaped
from fish farms in Washington State in recent years, crowding out native
Pacific salmon and spreading disease," said Cantrell. "These
new rules are an important step in protecting threatened and endangered
Puget Sound salmon populations from some of the worst impacts of non-native,
farmed fish."
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- Ongoing problems with escapes as well as massive outbreaks
of disease among farmed fish highlight the urgent need for tighter regulation
of aquaculture operations. "It is essential that these new rules are
immediately implemented and aggresively enforced," said Cantrell.
"Our wild salmon populations are already struggling to survive--the
last thing they need is more competition from exotic species escaping from
fish farms."
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- http://www.foe.org/new/releases/1202gefish.html
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