Countdown to Legal Frankenfish (ACTION)

Look at who will be on the FDA's (4.00 / 3)

veterinary medicine advisory committee that will examine the salmon issue: http://www.fda.gov/AdvisoryCom...

See any fish experts? How about biotech hacks?

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

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by: Jill Richardson @ Mon Sep 13, 2010 at 21:42:35 PM UTC

Now, now, let's not be too hasty, I know when we have a (4.00 / 3)

.... problem here, I don't call the dog's vet or the Equine Clinic, I call the Swine Veterinarian or the Beef Cattle Feedlot guys, and it's all good !

Why do I get the feeling that this is just an exercise in designing ocean dwelling fish to be able to eat GMO soybeans treated with round up in enclosures in freshwater ?

Does anybody in this administration possibly "get" what is wrong (or could go wrong)  with this AquaBounty Technologies crap ?

AquaBounty tested its GE salmon and controls for physical and behavioral problems, differences in blood test results and hormone levels, and allergenicity to humans. Although the commercialized fish will all be female triploids, they often tested both males and females and both diploids and triploids of non-GE and GE salmon to determine whether any problem that showed up was due to the genetic engineering or due to the extra set of chromosomes.
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Additionally, AquaBounty admitted to culling deformed fish prior to selecting fish for inclusion in its studies. The company justified this by saying that culling is standard practice in the industry.
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On the other hand, in 2005, the GE fish exhibited an unusually high frequency of physical deformities (only 7.9 percent of triploid GE salmon and 17.2 percent of diploid GE salmon were judged to be free of any malformations), and AquaBounty provided several justifications for ignoring this data, ....

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the problem could have been environmental, offered AquaBounty.

Hey, having an extra set of chromosomes and the protein from a different kind of fish is just an everyday sorta thing, too, right ?

I can't wait until these *********s start doing it to grains.

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by: AmericanRiverCanyon @ Mon Sep 13, 2010 at 22:53:10 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Fish experts? (4.00 / 2)

No fish experts, but:

Roster of the Veterinary Medicine Advisory Committee

John R. Glisson, D.V.M., Ph.D.
Expertise: Avian Medicine
Term: 11/1/08-10/31/10
Director, Poultry Diagnostic and Research Center
Head, Department Population Health
College of Veterinary Medicine
University of Georgia
Athens, Georgia  30602

David F. Senior, A.C.V.I.M.N.-S.A., E.C.V.I.M.
Expertise: Companion Animals
Term: 11/1/08-10/31/12
Associate Dean, Advancement and Strategic Initiatives
School of Veterinary Medicine
Louisiana State University
Skip Bertman Drive
Baton Rouge, Louisiana  70803-8410

Flying (fishy) companion animals. We're covered.

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by: count @ Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 03:01:14 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Sounds like AquaFrankenSalmon leftovers are headed for pet food ingredients (4.00 / 2)

.... doesn't it ?

As a person who has "companion animals" eating commercial pet food allergy formulas already, this reassures me, especially after the GMO Battle of the Sugar Beet Pulp Leftovers, when for reasons I don't quite "get," the planting of GMO Sugar Beets is still going on after a court decision banning it.

USDA Sued over GMO Beets  9/13/10
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-50...

The groups - including the Center for Food Safety, the Sierra Club, and the Organic Seed Alliance - said the plantings could still modify neighboring crops, adding that the agency's decision violates an August court ruling that prohibited future plantings of modified beets, according to a statement released by the Center for Food Safety.

"The Court has already found that the approval of this engineered crop was illegal," Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food Safety, said in the statement. "Rather than complying with the court's order, the USDA is once again acting as a rogue agency in illegally allowing these crops to be planted without the required hard look at their environmental and economic dangers."

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by: AmericanRiverCanyon @ Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 21:34:24 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Is Andrew Jackson... (4.00 / 2)

...running USDA these days?

"They have made their decision, now let them enforce it"?

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by: JayinPhiladelphia @ Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 22:01:26 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Country of origin loopholes not cool (4.00 / 3)

In your piece you mentioned that processed fish doesn't get country of origin labeling, which is a major loophole.  My understanding is that Aquabounty could ship whole fish to China, have them filleted, wrapped and frozen there, and thus avoid country of origin labeling that would avoid anything that ties to the Panama site.

It was a huge struggle to get the labeling we have, so it will be an even bigger struggle to close loopholes like the processing one.

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by: mental_masala @ Mon Sep 13, 2010 at 22:35:53 PM UTC

jelly (4.00 / 1)

It's time to advise our compatriots to carry jelly jars in our purses, because we're about to be toast. I think Obama will approve this crap.

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by: count @ Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 00:55:25 AM UTC

Action? (4.00 / 2)

This is not the time to be signing petitions. This is the time to file an emergency lawsuit pursuing an injunction to prohibit FDA from proceeding on the basis of a dishonest, fraudulent report.

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by: count @ Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 01:30:01 AM UTC

well they are accepting comments (4.00 / 3)

so might as well send 'em comments.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

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by: Jill Richardson @ Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 03:03:53 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

sloppy or dishonest? (4.00 / 1)

Even more worrisome is the science used to justify the salmon's safety, which Consumers Union senior scientist Michael Hansen calls "sloppy," "misleading," and "woefully inadequate."

Jill, your AlterNet article does not report science, it reports data manipulation. The data manipulation is not sloppy, misleading, or woefully inadequate, it is dishonest. The report is fraudulent.

If AquaBounty's data manipulation practices are standard in "the industry", whatever the heck "the industry" means, where is the extensive bibliography citing hundreds of peer-reviewed journal articles approved for publication on the basis of these data manipulation practices?

The fact is, AquaBounty did many experiments. The experiments were fudged from Day 1 to produce the best outcomes in adult fish. Even so, most of the results regarding adult fish were excluded from the report because they were unfavorable to the corporation, and the report was based only on the minority of favorable outcomes. FDA turned itself inside out to accommodate this total abandonment of basic scientific integrity. The experimental protocol was so flawed that the FDA cannot make a reasonable decision either for or against the application, because it does not have good data and cannot extract good data from available records.

This application should be abandoned. FDA should notify AquaBounty that no subsequent application will be considered unless it is based on an experimental protocol that specifies 100% tracking from fertilization to adulthood, with 100% documentation of the fates of embryos that do not reach adulthood. Data analysis must reflect all animals that reach market weight.

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by: count @ Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 02:08:39 AM UTC

peer reviewed (4.00 / 1)

I assume that more than one such bogus report have appeared in flack trade mags, although I don't know for sure. I would be aghast to discover that any such article has been published in a journal subject to peer review.

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by: count @ Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 02:44:16 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

tracking and documentation (4.00 / 2)

No culling allowed. Without that requirement, the rest would be meaningless.

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by: count @ Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 03:12:45 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Labeling (4.00 / 3)

FDA regulates these animals under new animal drug provisions, which include new drug labeling provisions. How will these new drug labeling provisions be implemented? I assume that this question is unanswered now, and the September 21 meeting is for the purpose of receiving information about how to implement the new drug labeling provisions?

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by: count @ Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 02:23:07 AM UTC

LABELING DOCUMENT (4.00 / 1)

Background Document: Public Hearing on the Labeling of Food Made from the AquAdvantage Salmon

Introduction
Background
FDA Meetings on the AquAdvantage Salmon
Applicable Principles of Labeling Foods
Questions and Answers
The Part 15 Hearing

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by: count @ Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 02:56:03 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

AquaBounty info (4.00 / 2)

Aqua Bounty Technologies, Inc.

Aqua Bounty Technologies, Inc. (Aqua Bounty) is a biotechnology company. The Company is engaged in the research and development of the commercial viability of a group of proteins, known as antifreeze proteins (AFPs). The Company's subsidiaries include Aqua Bounty Canada, Inc. and Aqua Bounty Panama, S. de R.L. Aqua Bounty Canada, Inc. was formed for the purpose of establishing a commercial biotechnology laboratory to produce AFPs and to conduct research and development programs related to the commercialization of cryopreservatives and the antifreeze gene construct. Aqua Bounty Panama, S. de R.L. was formed for the purpose of conducting commercial trials of the Company's AquAdvantage salmon.

AquaBounty Technologies

AquaBounty was originally incorporated in1991, under the name A/F Protein, to pursue the commercial development of antifreeze protein-based technology under license from the University of California at Berkeley.

In 1996, A/F Protein acquired a license to the AquAdvantage® technology from the University of Toronto and Memorial University of Newfoundland, and was subsequently reorganized in 2000, into two separate entities: A/F Protein, which retained the antifreeze protein technology; and, AquaBounty Farms, which obtained the AquAdvantage® technology.

AquaBounty Farms, headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, changed its name in 2004 to AquaBounty Technologies.

In 2006, AquaBounty Technologies was listed in the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market (AIM) raising $28 million in an initial public offering of stock.

AquAdvantage Fish

AquaBounty is developing advanced-hybrid salmon, trout, and tilapia designed to grow faster than traditional fish.

Our Technology http://www.aquabounty.com/tech...

The company is developing products to address critical production constraints in the most popular farmed species, focusing initially on salmon, trout and shrimp.

Aquaculture Market

"While capture fisheries production stopped growing in around mid-1980, the aquaculture sector has maintained an average annual growth rate of 8.7 percent worldwide since 1970."
...
"production increases came from the aquaculture sector, which now accounts for 47 percent of all fish consumed by humans as food.  Production in capture fisheries has leveled off and is not likely to increase beyond current levels."

The last quote is from a 2008 report.

AquaBounty is a strange company. It is incorporated in Delaware. It is headquartered in Massachusetts and has an operation in San Diego. Its financial and legal advisors are in England and Canada. Shares are traded on a London exchange, but securities are not traded in the U.S. and are not registered with the SEC. Factory operations will be confined to foreign countries, at least initially. Sounds like the company has been positioned to operate outside the strictures of U.S. scrutiny as much as possible.

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by: count @ Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 22:17:30 PM UTC

Incorporated in Delaware... (4.00 / 1)

PO Boxes in Delaware - the most lucrative real estate in the world?

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by: JayinPhiladelphia @ Tue Sep 14, 2010 at 22:34:02 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

State of Delaware incorporation capital of the country (4.00 / 2)

.... time and time again, you'll hit a temporary research wall when you find out a company has its agent of process as a Delaware company which does nothing but set up business corporations.

http://www.delawareintercorp.c...

Delaware's large body of business laws helps a company plan carefully to avoid a lawsuit.

Delaware's Chancery Court oversees matters involving Delaware's General Corporate Law and has a reputation as one of the finest courts in the country.
Chancery Court issues decisions without jury trials, so their decisions are written, well thought-out and easy to follow.

Legal textbooks rely heavily upon Delaware corporate case law to teach law students because of the well written opinions from the Delaware Judiciary, so most American corporate attorneys have studied Delaware corporate law.

_____

Why incorporate in Delaware? One of the best reasons for incorporating, or forming a Delaware limited liability company, is to separate your personal assets from your company's assets. If you conduct business without using a corporation, or limited liability company, you place your assets at risk. Separating your personal property from your business property, and using a legal form such as a corporation, can help protect your personal property.

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Delaware's General Corporation Laws make it the friendliest state in America for corporations.

Delaware receives a large percentage of its revenue from corporate registration fees and therefore it is in the State's best interest to attract as many corporations as possible.

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by: AmericanRiverCanyon @ Wed Sep 15, 2010 at 02:59:54 AM UTC

[ Parent ]