Some of the nation’s most recognizable chains — including
Whole Foods, Trader
Joe’s and Target —
have agreed in recent months to steer clear of
the fish. A spokeswoman for Safeway, the
nation’s second-largest grocery chain, said the
chain doesn’t have “any plans to carry GE
salmon.” Activists are pressing Kroger, the
country’s largest grocer, to make a similar
commitment.
“The goal is to make sure there is not an
available market for genetically engineered
seafood,” said Dana Perls, food and technology
campaigner at Friends of the Earth, an
international network of environmental
organizations helping to lead the effort to make
the fish unwelcome. “People don’t want it, and
markets are going to follow what people want.”
The Food and Drug Administration, which has been
reviewing the genetically modified salmon for
years, has strongly signaled it intends to
approve the fish, making it the first
genetically modified animal cleared for human
consumption. The decision, which could come this
fall, would be a milestone not only for the
decades-long fish controversy but also for the
heated debate over the development and marketing of
other genetically modified foods.
AquaBounty Technologies, based in Massachusetts,
first applied for permission to sell its
genetically altered salmon in 1995. Its
AquAdvantage salmon consists of an Atlantic
salmon containing a growth hormone from a
Chinook salmon and a gene from the ocean pout,
an eel-like fish. The result: A fish that grows
to market size in about half the time as regular
salmon.
For years, opponents have argued there’snot
enough data to prove the salmon is safe to eat. They
have also warned there could be devastating
environmental consequences if the fish were to
escape confinement and breed with wild salmon.
The FDA has
concluded, however, that the genetically
modified salmon does not pose a threat to the
environment and is “as safe as food from
conventional Atlantic salmon.”
With the agency close to approving the fish,
critics want to make it hard for consumers to
find. They are urging supporters to “create
a tsunami of messages” — via social media,
e-mails and telephone calls — to pressure
retailers not to stock it, and they have
promised to reward companies that go along by
praising them “on
our websites, in social media, and in the press.”
Besides Friends of the Earth, groups such as the
Center for Food Safety and Consumers Union are
involved in the effort.
“Companies are going to follow what other
companies do,” said Perls, who added that
organizers have also begun approaching some
chefs and restaurants about taking the anti-AquAdvantage
pledge. “No one wants to be seen as an outlier.”
The campaign infuriates AquaBounty chief
executive Ron
Stotish, who says that critics are engaging
in “fear-mongering” and that
his salmon could help reduce the
over-fishing of wild salmon populations, bolster
the world’s food supply and use fewer resources.
