GeneWatch UK comments on: Draft Environmental Assessment and Preliminary Finding of No Significant Impact Concerning a Genetically Engineered Atlantic Salmon; Availability

• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: Atlantic salmon; North Atlantic; North East Atlantic
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.690.8401; http://www.genewatch.org/uploads/f03c6d66a9b354535738483c1c3d49e4/GeneWatch_FDAfish_Feb13_fin.pdf

GeneWatch UK is a not-for-profit organisation based in the United Kingdom. Our aim is to ensure that genetic science and technologies are used in the public interest. We welcome the opportunity to respond to this consultation. Wild Atlantic salmon are found in the North Atlantic on both European (Portugal to Russia) and North American (Cape Cod to Labrador) sides, including around North Atlantic islands such as the UK. The Atlantic salmon (Salmo salmar) is on the Oslo and Paris Convention (OSPAR) List of Threatened and/or Declining Species and Habitats (covering the North-East Atlantic region) and is also listed in Annexes II and V of the European Union’s Habitats Directive as a species of European importance. The issue of the environmental impacts which may be caused by the approval of the application is therefore a matter of international importance. This is especially the case in relation to the failure to secure shipments of GE eyed-eggs, which might lead to widespread dispersal of such eggs in the environment, and the failure to properly describe or account for the United States ’ and Canada’s obligations under the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO). GeneWatch UK disagrees with the FDA’s proposal to issue a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) in response to AquaBounty’s application, on the following grounds: