Retailers would have to identify transgenic salmon as genetically engineered and imports of raw beef from Brazil and Argentina would be barred under the USDA/FDA funding bill approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee. The panel also approved language to prevent horse slaughter and to delay two school lunch reforms. The bill now faces a vote by the full Senate.
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski proposed the labeling provision, saying wild Alaska salmon – “the best in the world” – deserved distinction in grocery stores from a genetically engineered salmon under review by FDA. “It would be the first time a genetically engineered animal, species, is approved for human consumption,” she said, but it was unlikely to carry a tag identifying its origins. The rider was approved on a voice vote with no dissent.
The House is expected to vote as early as next week on a bill that pre-empts state GMO-labeing laws and keeps labeling voluntary at the federal level. Proponents of the House bill say labeling laws stigmatize foods that are safe to eat and indistinguishable from conventional good.
Murkowski said there is a significant difference between crops that are covered by the House bill and the GE salmon. “Corn doesn’t swim from field to field and propagate with other corn …. Fish move.”
For two years, there has been speculation that the FDA is near a decision on the GE salmon developed by AquaBounty Technologies. Its AquaAdvantage salmon, a genetically engineered Atlantic salmon, reaches market size of 5-12 pounds (2-5 kg) faster than other farmed salmon – two years instead of the usual three. AquaBounty “has been fighting to bring AquAdvantage to market since 1993, two years after the company was founded,” says Bloomberg.
Like GMO crops, the AquaAdvantage salmon is a subject of controversy. Groups such asFood and Water Watch are campaigning against FDA approval of “Frankenfish.”
Appropriators also adopted language to prevent imports of beef from sections of Argentina and Brazil until the USDA conducts a risk analysis and updates a 2003 report on U.S. losses if there is an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. The USDA took the first step toward “fresh” beef imports from the two South American countries on July 2, during a visit by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.
A similar provision on Brazilian and Argentine beef is part of the House version of the USDA/FDA funding bill. The House bill is silent on GE salmon. On a tie vote, the House Appropriations Committee defeated a proposal to block horse slaughter.
North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven successfully proposed a rider to keep limits on salt in school meals at their current levels and to allow a “hardship exemption” for schools that say it is too expensive to put more whole grains or that they cannot find an adequate supply of them. Similar language is part of the House funding bill. Hoeven said his provision would give schools more flexibility in meals.
Congress is due to overhaul U.S. child nutrition programs this year but has not begun drafting legislation yet. The programs cost $21 billion a year. School lunch and school breakfast are the largest of them.
Lawmakers also have a long way to go on the USDA/FDA funding bills. The Senate has not debated any of the 12 annual appropriations bills to fund the government for the fiscal year that opens on Oct. 1. The White House and the Republican-controlled Congress disagree over spending levels for the government and Republicans have attached policy riders to spending bills that the administration views as veto bait. A catch-all appropriations bill or a so-called continuing resolution, which would carry forward current funding levels, may become options in the fall.
To read a Senate Appropriations Committee statement and summary of the bill, text of amendments adopted by the committee, or for a webcast of the bill-drafting session, click here. The rider on beef from Argentina and Brazil, Section 743, is available here.
The FDA page on AquaAdvantage salmon is available here.