Public Comment Sought on Genetically Modified Salmon
Instructions for electronic submissions are at http://www.regulations.gov. Written comments should be addressed to the Division of Dockets Management (HFA-305), Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852. Comments should refer to the docket number, Docket No. FDA-2011-N-0899.
For further information contact Eric Silberhorn, Center for veterinary medicine (HFV-162), Food and Drug Administration, 7500 Standish Pl., Rockville, MD 20855; 1-240-276-8247, or email [email protected]
Has anybody submitted comments on this issue?
http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=FDA-2011-N-0899
I just submitted these comments. Anybody is welcome to use all or part of them. Just change the first sentance.
I am Chris McCaffity, a commercial fisherman and consumer of seafood. I am deeply concerned about the FDA’s plan to approve Genetically Engineered Salmon for mass production and human consumption. The corporation making these mutated fish claims the unnatural species will never contaminate wild stocks. There is a long history of well-intentioned medaling with Mother Nature having unintended consequences with severe negative impacts when unexpected things like natural disasters occur. Floods could breach holding ponds and carry genetically mutated species into wild waterways. Birds of prey could pick up a mutant fish and drop it in a nearby body of water. Somebody working with these frankenfish could decide to introduce them into the wild to “help” natural fish. There are many ways this kind of experiment could go horribly wrong.
There are much better ways to feed the world a dependable supply of wild-caught seafood and farm-raised species. Here are three examples.
1. Use Artificial Reef habitat to enhance barren seafloor and increase the total bio-mass of marine life an area can support. This would be the perfect union of aquaculture and wild-caught seafood that lives free and self-sufficient until harvested.
2. Collect unused parts of cleaned seafood from fish houses and markets to be processed into feed pellets for farm-raised species. This would help solve the problem of using 3 to 7 pounds of wild seafood to produce one pound of farm-raised product.
3. Properly manage quotas for wild stocks of seafood so that they are fully harvested with very little or no Regulatory Discards that currently waste tons of seafood annually.
I respectfully ask those with the power to approve Genetically Engineered Salmon NOT TO DO SO. Please consider the possible unintended consequences of and positive alternatives to taking this chance with our food supply and native marine life.
Thank you for considering my public comments. [email protected]