A long-awaited environmental impact evaluation of the introduction of genetically modified salmon is now in the hands of the Obama White House, the website TalkingPointsMemo confirmed on Thursday, and according to their source, the FDA is "supportive" of selling the so-called "Frankenfish" to humans.
The news comes a little more than a year after reports began circulating that the FDA saw no harm from the fish, known as "AquAdvantage" and produced by Massachussetts-based AquaBounty Technologies.
TPM reports that the FDA's environmental review now sits with the White House Office of Management and Budget, and a spokeswoman declined to say anything other than they had the document. The FDA has previously said they felt the salmon was safe for humans to eat.
We've already given you five reasons why you should say "no" to gentically modified salmon on your plate.
But supporters of the AquAdvantage application say that overfishing and population growth mean that humans have to develop more sustainable methods of meeting demand for salmon. The AquAdvantage Atlantic salmon have been given a gene from an eel-like fish, the ocean pout, as well as a growth hormone from Chinook salmon that allows them to grow twice as fast as unmodified salmon.
The modified salmon, AquaBounty argues, is virtually identical to the untreated salmon:
"In characteristics, physiology, behavior, this is an Atlantic salmon. It looks like an Atlantic salmon. It tastes like an Atlantic salmon."
Opponents worry that the modified salmon could escape their breeding pens off of Prince Edward Island and threaten already endangered wild salmon populations.
