Alaskans Line Up Against Genetically Engineered Atlantic Salmon

The possibility that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will OK farming of genetically modified Atlantic salmon has Alaska fishermen, conservationists and politicians up in arms. They're claiming the fish would threaten Alaska's wild salmon market, by escaping into the ocean and cross-breeding if not by driving down the price of wild product. "These farmed fish carry diseases and mutant strains," Molly Andrews of the Sitka Conservation Society told the Alaska Public Radio Network.

Aqua Bounty Technologies, the company that developed the salmon, insists it will be grown only in inland pens and only sterile females will be sold, preventing interbreeding with wild salmon. The New York Times reported last week that a coalition of 31 groups is opposing the fish. The FDA will start taking public testimony Sept. 19 in Maryland.

Alaska Sen. Mark Begich told APRN he doesn't believe FDA assurances that the fish — modified with a Pacific king salmon gene that doubles their growth rate — are safe for human consumption. "When you look at the latest situation that occurred with the egg recall … I don't have a lot of faith in their ability to manage an industry that they have no clue what it means," Begich said.

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