By Rich Bindell
Food and Water Watch
The USDA recently granted $494,000 in funding to AquaBounty Technologies, the company behind AquAdvantage, or genetically engineered (GE) salmon. The money will fund the company’s research into sterilization techniques. GE salmon has been a rather controversial issue with the American public. In fact, most consumers have said they don’t want it to enter the marketplace. So, why is the USDA funding a corporate venture with our tax dollars?
Since we last wrote about GE salmon, the first genetically engineered animal that would be approved for human consumption, the House of Representatives voted to block the FDA from using federal funds to approve it and similar language is being considered in the Senate.
One of our biggest concerns with GE salmon is that it could interact with and endanger wild salmon populations. Even the FDA considered it misleading when AquaBounty claimed that their GE salmon eggs were 100 percent sterile and that GE salmon would never invade the natural habitat of wild salmon. If that were the case, why would AquaBounty now require federal money to research how to make the fish sterile? Seems like something they should have figured out before bringing this product to the government for approval.
Food & Water Watch did some more digging and discovered that AquaBounty Technologies has received more than $2.4 million dollars in federal research grants since 2003. The Department of Commerce awarded AquaBounty $1.68 million between 2003 and 2005. The United States Department of Agriculture gave more than $550,000 between 2003 and 2011, while the National Science Foundation awarded AquaBounty close to $200,000 in 2009.
The fact that our government is offering assistance to AquaBounty at a time when our economy is crippled and the U.S. budget has been drastically cut is more than just a little troubling—it’s flat out wrong.
If AquaBounty wants to prove that its product is safe it should invest its own money, not taxpayer money.
Read the Full Article Here: http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/blogs/why-are-federal-agencies-using-your-money-to-fund-ge-salmon/