On March 10, 2014 the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network disclosed that an investment filing at the London Stock Exchange confirmed that AquaBounty is now also seeking approval for human consumption of its GM salmon in Canada. In contrast, Health Canada has consistently refused to confirm or deny that AquaBounty had made any application for approval to sell the genetically modified (GM) fish in Canada. The Ecology Action Centre (EAC) and Living Oceans Society (LOS) spoke out today against the cloud of secrecy obscuring federal government approvals of genetically modified (GM) organisms in Canada – including what may be the world’s first GM food animal to hit supermarket shelves: AquAdvantage™ salmon. In December of 2013, EAC and LOS brought a legal action against the Ministers of Environment Canada and Health Canada, as well as AquaBounty Canada Inc., asking the Federal Court to decide if the Canadian government violated its own law when it permitted the manufacture of genetically modified salmon to proceed. “By granting approval for this genetically modified species without obtaining all the legally required information, the government has failed to meet their legal obligation, they said. i.e. assessment of safety, invasiveness etc. Since the suit, Environment Canada published an after-the-fact notice of a government information waiver granted to U.S. parent company AquaBounty Technologies Inc. Under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (1999), the Minister of Environment has the power to exempt applicants from providing all the information the law normally requires.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 00:52:44 +0000
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