Gov Jerry Brown signed a law that bans commercial production of genetically engineered salmon in California waters, says the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. The state already barred spawning, incubation, or cultivation of transgenic salmon in the Pacific Ocean. The FDA is considering a request by a company to allow sale of GE salmon. A Senate Appropriations subcommittee voted early this year to block the sale of GE salmon but the language was not part of the short-term government funding law now in force.
“If these ‘frankenfish’ were to escape into our waters, they could destroy our native salmonid populations through interbreeding, competition for food and the introduction of parasites and disease. The only way to ensure this never happens is to ban commercial hatchery production, cultivation or stocking of transgenic salmonids in California,” said Wesley Chesbro, sponsor of the bill and chair of the legislatures Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture, in a statement.