"Judge Orders FDA to Rethink Approval of GMO Salmon"

"SAN FRANCISCO — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration must rethink its approval of a plan to breed genetically altered salmon because it did not fully consider what would happen if those fish escaped into the wild, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

“It basically requires FDA to finally grapple with what scientists both inside and outside the government have been telling it for a very long time, which is that there are unacceptable risks from genetically engineered salmon,” said Earthjustice lawyer Stephen Mashuda, who represents conservation and fishing industry groups that sued the FDA.

In 2015, the FDA approved the company AquaBounty’s plans to breed its “AquAdvantage” salmon — a genetic mix of ocean pout and Pacific Chinook — at a hatchery in Rollo Bay on Prince Edward Island, then transport the eggs for growth at an Indiana farm site."

Nicholas Iovino reports for Courthouse News Service November 5, 2020.