As we fight Big Ag, corporate power, environmental degradation, and climate change, here’s another threat: genetically engineered (GE) salmon. Indigenous tribes, including the Muckleshoot and Quinault, have raised serious concerns about GE salmon now being sold in the US by AquaBounty Technology.  Addressing these concerns and the public’s right to know the source of their fish, requires a look at the science behind these fish, FDA rules, a proposed federal law, and trade agreements.

AquaBounty Technology, a Massachusetts based company, has engineered genes from three different fish to create a new type of salmon that the company claims grows three times faster than wild salmon. Although the FDA approved GE salmon in 2015, the Center for Food Safety has raised concerns about the safety of such fish  including the possibility that the fish contain high levels of cancer-causing hormones. In addition, Food and Water Watch believes there is a chance of such fish escaping and breeding with wild salmon, thus threatening native populations.

Because of these concerns, in March 2016, the Center for Food Safety and a coalition of environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the FDA challenging its approval of GE salmon. In the meantime, it’s not at all clear that government rules affirm the public’s right to know whether commercial fish has been genetically modified. According to Friends of the Earth, the recently issued USDA rules on GE labeling are vague and contain dangerous loopholes.  Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska agrees, stating, “USDA’s new guidelines don’t require mandatory labeling, and instead allow producers to use QR codes or 1-800 numbers, which is a far stretch from giving consumers clear information. There’s a huge difference between genetically engineered salmon and the healthy, sustainably-caught, wild Alaskan salmon.”

For this reason, Senator Murkowski has introduced Senate Bill 1528, the Genetically Engineered Salmon Labeling Act, which would require that genetically engineered salmon be labeled, and which sets forth requirements for additional robust environmental analysis. Yet even the passage of this law would not guarantee the public’s right to know the source of its fish. This is because World Trade Organization rules, and rules included in Trump’s proposed new NAFTA (NAFTA 2.0) allow challenges of food labeling programs. For example, Mexico and Canada have already successfully challenged U.S. Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) policies pursuant to the WTO. Similarly,  Mexico successfully challenged the U.S. ban on tuna caught using nets that encircle and kill dolphins, leading to the elimination of an embargo on such tuna. 

The NAFTA 2.0 text makes such challenges even more likely because it includes additional problematic labeling provisions not found in the original NAFTA text. For example, it requires countries to ensure that their “technical regulations concerning labels … do not create unnecessary obstacles to trade.” Related language in the food standards chapter prohibits certification requirements concerning “the quality of a product or information relating to consumer preferences.”  According to Public Citizen, these terms mean that if a regulated business believes that a labeling policy is based on consumer preferences rather than on safety (such as might be the case with organic labeling or GMO labeling), such labeling policies could be successfully attacked. Thus, a full reading of the NAFTA 2.0 text reveals that it is designed to promote agricultural biotech and limit policies that help consumers avoid exposure to such products. 

It’s possible that NAFTA 2.0 will be up for a vote later this spring or early summer. For this reason, Congress needs to hear from you!

TAKE ACTION!

1. Please contact WA Senator Patty Murray and ask her to support SB 1528, Genetically Engineered Salmon Labeling Act: 206-553-5545

Senator Cantwell is a sponsor of this bill, but it would be helpful for her to receive phone calls thanking her for the bill and urging her to continue to push for it: 206-220-6400

2. Please contact your Congressional Representatives to urge them to oppose NAFTA 2.0 as currently written. You can find your Congressional Representative here.

3. Share this article!

In October 2018, South African biosafety officials rejected an application by Monsanto to cultivate a triple-stacked drought-tolerant variety, due to the same reasons cited in the USDA report. In November 2018, the Tanzanian government put an end to all field trials of drought-tolerant GE maize crops, conducted at the Tanzania Agriculture Research Institute, due to unauthorized use and release of the trial results. In Kenya, the WEMA drought-tolerant GE maize has been rebranded as TELA Maize, and scientists are calling for its commercialization throughout the country through the Cornell Alliance for Science’s biotech communications platform. However, only conditional approval has been granted for National Performance Trials in Kenya pending a full Environmental Impact Assessment. Recently, extremely high temperatures from December 2018 to February 2019 resulted in a huge failure of WEMA non-GE hybrids while local Open Pollinated Varieties have been much more resilient. Read rest of report.

Climate Change, CAFTA and Force Migration

By Ben Lilliston, IATP – Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy

On the last day of April, 16-year-old Juan de León Gutiérrez died in U.S. government custody in Texas. It was just 10 days since he had crossed the border after migrating from his home in Guatemala. His passing follows the deaths of 8-year old Felipe Gómez Alonzo and 7-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin in December while in Border Patrol custody—they were also from Guatemala. The Trump administration’s vicious crackdown on people migrating from Mexico and Central America, including unaccompanied children and children separated from their families, is allegedly designed to deter those considering the already dangerous journey north. But the focus on deterrence ignores the intersection of two powerful forces that have destabilized the economies and lives of many in Central America and are driving migration: Climate change and the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).

Guatemala and Honduras recently surpassed Mexico as the home countries of most people crossing the U.S. southern border. The percentage of families or children traveling alone is much higher than in the past. And, they are not trying to avoid capture, but rather are seeking asylum from dangerous conditions and deep poverty in their home country, according to the Washington Office of Latin America. According to news reports, Gutiérrez was from Camotán, one of the poorest and driest parts of Guatemala that lies within a region known as the “Dry Corridor.” Farmers in the Dry Corridor—which includes parts of Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador—lost nearly half their corn and bean crop in 2018 after a multi-year drought dating back to 2015 was followed by torrential rains, according to the United Nations. Time reported that the Gutiérrez family had completely lost their maize and beans in 2017 and 2018 due to the drought. Read the rest of the article.