WASHINGTON — The U.S. House has voted to bar the Food and Drug Administration from approving the sale of genetically engineered salmon.
Reps. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., and Don Young, R-Alaska, added an amendment denying funding for such approval to the agriculture appropriations bill, which passed late Thursday.
According to a report in the New York Times, the amendment was aimed at preventing the approval of a modified salmon developed by AquaBounty Technologies. The salmon, which was developed using genes from another type of fish, grows faster than wild salmon, according to reports. The FDA has studied research on the fish for several years, the reports said.
"This outrageous action is wrong on the facts, wrong on the process and wrong on the policy," said Ronald L. Stotish, president and chief executive officer, AquaBounty, in a prepared statement. "A handful of representatives have chosen to subvert the FDA's rigorous 15-year-plus process. It completely ignores the results of a rigorous scientific review. This sort of political gamesmanship undermines the science-based system that protects the nation's health and safety."
The modified salmon would be sterile and grown in inland tanks to prevent cross-contamination with fish in the wild, the company said.
