It was perfect timing…
While families all over the nation gathered to break bread before Christmas morning, and parents quietly assembled new toys for their kids and set out a plate of half-eaten cookies for Santa, the U.S. government was busy screwing us again.
On December 24, a day when most folks leave work early and do a bit of last-minute Christmas shopping, the FDA was hard at work assuring that one of its closest friends in Washington got an early Christmas present: approval for a new product that could make a select few lobbyists very rich.
Friends of Obama
On Christmas Eve, the FDA quietly approved a new genetically-engineered salmon that can grow twice as fast as ordinary salmon.
The company that creates these fish in its laboratory is called AquaBounty Technologies, and the company’s CEO claims that despite the genetic modifications, the fish is “perfectly safe” for human consumption — and poses no threat to the environment or food chain.
Let me tell you something: I trust the CEO of a biotech company about as much as I trust the CEO of a bank. And the fact that the FDA decided to approve this new salmon on the day before Christmas smells, pardon the pun, fishy…
The fact of the matter is there is minimal objective data on this genetically-modified (GM) fish, and certainly not enough to suggest that it’s ready to be deep fried and turned into croquettes.
But that doesn’t matter when you’ve got friends on the inside…
You see, it just so happens that the commissioner of the FDA is a former genetically-modified foods lobbyist that was hired by President Obama to regulate the very industry for which he once lobbied.
Funny how that works, huh?
The fox is guarding the hen house, my friends — and once again, we see more evidence of just how useless these bloated bureaucracies really are.
3 Million Taxpayer Dollars
Look, I’m not an anti-science guy. And I’m not opposed to a biotech company looking to make a buck.
But the more research I did on this company and its ties to the government, the more I realized these genetically-engineered salmon are not only unsafe — but the development of these “frankenfish” has been heavily funded by taxpayers since 2003.
I’ll be perfectly honest, I’m no fan of this kind of genetic modification. I don’t trust it, and I don’t wish to eat anything that Mother Nature has not provided. So yes, I tend to be very critical of the GM industry and the safety claims it makes.
That being said, I’m no scientist. So I’m not going to launch into a diatribe about the evils of Monsanto and GM foods (at least, not in these pages)…
I will, however, be happy to show you how AquaBounty and the U.S. government have together been scamming taxpayers for almost an entire decade.
You see, since 2003 AquaBounty has landed more than $2.4 million dollars in federal research grants. The company was awarded $1.68 million from the Department of Commerce, $550,000 from the Department of Agriculture, and $200,000 from the National Science Foundation. As well, the USDA provided $494,000 in funding for the company’s sterilization research.
That’s nearly $3 million to a company that ultimately has to receive approval from the same government that helped fund it with taxpayer dollars.
What a racket! And by the way, this stuff ain’t safe, either…
Just Another Backroom Deal
Despite the FDA’s fast-track approval and a number of flawed studies provided by AquaBounty, there is significant evidence that shows AquaBounty’s frankenfish to contain high levels of IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor 1), which has been linked to cancer and early puberty.
And researchers not on the FDA’s payroll have also found there is insufficient research on the allergic potential of AquaBounty’s genetically-engineered fish. According to a 2010 FDA briefing packet, the FDA couldn’t even determine if the fish in question would cause more allergies than other fish.
And by the way, despite President Obama’s pledge to have all genetically-modified foods labeled — a pledge that quickly disappeared once elected, this stuff doesn’t have to be labeled. You could actually go to your grocery store one day and unknowingly purchase this marginally tested frankenfish. Brilliant!
Then there’s the issue of the genetically-engineered salmon getting into wild populations…
Although AquaBounty claimed its GM salmon could never interact with wild salmon populations, it noted that no single containment measure can be assured of 100% effectiveness. The FDA has actually sited these claims to be potentially misleading, yet approval was fast-tracked nonetheless.
Again, having friends in Washington can make all the difference.
By the way, mixing the frankenfish with wild fish populations could do irreparable harm to the food chain, and it puts the entire U.S. salmon industry at risk…
But sure, go ahead and fast-track its approval.
Don’t think for a second that this whole thing hasn’t been a backroom deal from day one.
The fact that the FDA leads SWAT-style raids on family stores selling raw milk, but approves AquaBounty’s frankenfish, speaks volumes about how this bureaucracy is being run.
If you want to see what kind of people we’re dealing with here, click the image below.
Live honorably, live free…
Jeff Siegel
for Freedom Watch
