Category: Project Weekly

Final Post

Revised Program Description:

“Local and Global Reform in The American Food System” is an SOS designed to explore local and global food systems and the inequities that exist inherently within them. For this contract, the student will work with Seattle based non for profit Community Alliance For Global Justice to explore questions of commodification and the impacts of corporate involvement in a capitalist food system.
By assisting in research work, event planning, community involvement and using Kyla Wazana tompkins’ Racial Indigestion as a primary text, the student will come to an informed stance on the subject, participate in weekly seminars and create bi-weekly writing pieces as evidence of her learning.

Self Evaluation:

Though this quarter was not my first experience working independently at Evergreen, it was my first time in an SOS. After spending the second half of spring quarter and the entirety of fall quarter working away from the Evergreen campus I was excited to spend my Tuesdays in Olympia and rekindle my connection with the Evergreen community while maintaining a sense of independence in my studies. What was explored in this class is summed up succinctly in Kyla Wazana Tompkins’ conclusion from Racial Indigestion where she asks “When and why did eating become a way of asserting racial, not to mention class, identity? How does an act which is so policed and so overdetermined- eating- also come to be affiliated with transgressive pleasure, with sex, sexuality, and an eroticism that is all its own?” (p.184). This quarter, class discussions and reading texts like Tompkins’ have reinforced my obsession with food and inspired me to continue to pursue what I am passionate about.

Seminar has always been one of my favorite aspects of the Evergreen learning community. This quarter reading Kyla Wazana Tompkins’ words on white supremacy, sexual desire, and oppressive food practices through the lens of “critical eating studies” in Racial Indigestion has been my most inspiring and interesting seminar text to date. Despite her dense passages and difficult concepts, I was never tempted to rush through chapters and found myself able to fully digest her text (often after several readings). Her ability to articulate concepts I am deeply interested is motivating and inspiring. I hope one day to be able to explore food, culture, and politics as deeply as she has. I felt invested in all seminar conversations this quarter and walked away each Tuesday feeling inspired by the insights my classmates and faculty so often provided. Reflecting upon my seminar writings this quarter I feel most proud of my week 6 essay “Wholesome Girls and Orientalism” in which I explored Tompkins’ text in relation to an article entitled High/Low Cuisine and Orientalism and came to the conclusion that “In Antebellum (and many current day American racial discourses) orientalist discourses, the western observer/ traveler/ historian maintains their place of superiority by continuing to confine the non-westerner as an observable anomaly, while failing to acknowledge their whole personhood. The constant consumption and colonization of the “other” ensure the subordination necessary to rationalize exploitation and lack of humanity, it is in this mindset that black and brown bodies turn less into people and more into “things”.” I enjoyed the assignment format and its interdisciplinary nature and the synthesis it prompted.
Bringing the body into academia this quarter through our tasting labs felt appropriate and necessary while reading Tompkins and Newman. Through Annie’s labs which related mostly to Racial Indigestion and Kotomi’s educational tea tasting labs we were forced to think of ourselves and our eating as more than just consuming, an act that in itself challenges the nature of current capitalist commodity culture. During Annie’s corn tasting lab we sat eating various preparations of corn (corn flakes, polenta, corn bread, bourbon, and high fructose corn syrup) while watching Michael Twitty’s “Black Corn” in which he explores corn’s designation as slave food during Antebellum America and the importance and varieties of corn that have been so essential to indigenous peoples across the Americas for millennia. In the past hundred years corn has been turned into a staple commodity in the agricultural industry, but in turn varieties so essential to native diets and culture have dwindled.
My in-program internship with Seattle-based organization Community Alliance For Global Justice has given me an inside look at the world of anti-oppressive grassroots organizing and what goes into event planning and community collaboration. Through outreach, social media, e-mailing and research, I was able to educate myself on ways to approach these subjects in a professional context. Most of the quarter was spent preparing for our March 11th Wild Salmon Cookout in collaboration with the Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty Alliance and in solidarity with northwest tribes. In preparation for the event and solidarity campaign, I conducted extensive research on the issue of Genetically Engineered salmon and the threat corporate ownership of an animal that coast Salish people have organized their lives around for millennia holds. I walk away from this quarter with a sense of pride in the work I have participated in and was delighted to see the impact our event had on people that attended. I am also honored to say that my article “Genetically Engineered Salmon Cause Threat to Wild Salmon Populations and Local Tribes” was published on the Community Alliance For Global Justice website.
Though at first, I felt a sense of frustration in the fact that so much of my internship work was not suitable to share on my website, I found ways around it and was able to turn my research on genetically engineered salmon and food sovereignty into informative posts. Despite initial confusion in regards to what was expected on the website for tasting labs, I was able to share my learning through brief yet thoughtful post tasting lab reflections. Seminar papers were the easiest to incorporate into my website and I enjoyed coming up with creative titles and eye catching images to share. At this point, I feel as though I have mastered wordpress and feel comfortable creating simple but visually appealing websites.
This quarter has by no means been an easy one, between balancing schoolwork, an internship, a new job, and chronic illness I spent many moments feeling as though I didn’t have time to gather myself enough to comprehend what my body and mind were telling me. Regardless, I walk away from this quarter with a sense of pride. Looking back on the quarter, I am finally able to breathe and acknowledge the hard work I have completed over the past 10 weeks. Spring quarter I will be taking a leave of absence in order to prepare myself for a thesis I plan to write Fall 2017. Though I won’t be on the Evergreen campus next quarter, I plan on continuing in my work with CAGJ indefinitely and look forward to Summer quarter when I will participate in Sarah Williams and Martha Rosemeyer’s Farm-to-Table: Slow Food in Denver and on Campus. I am glad to have had the opportunity to participate in this SOS and have no doubt that many of the connections and insights I have gained in the classroom will last long beyond the quarter and my time at Evergreen.

Final Presentation Slideshow:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/19SfQo8TceodBM6PUvJjFCPyyZsfdYOFbwOEyzzSlTJU/edit#slide=id.p

Wild Salmon Cookout

The day that this whole quarter seems to have been leading up to has now come and gone.Weeks of outreach, social media, planning, and preparation finally came to fruition yesterday, and went better than we could have planned. We initially estimated a turnout of 50 to 100 but over 250 people came out to protest genetically engineered salmon and participate in our Cookout!

Being able to connect with local community members, tribal groups, and fisherpeople made every minute of the seemingly endless e-mails worth it. Having genetically engineered salmon at the forefront of the conversation brought an awareness to the event and the amazing speakers and performances were effective in spiking interest and passion among attendees, not to mention the delicious nettle salmon soup, kale salad, and wild coho salmon smoked outside, regardless of the drizzle!

Here is a rundown of the event:

  • The cookout began at 10:45 with an honor and welcome song by Justice Bill and Muckleshoot tribal members
  • which was followed by a welcome from Community Alliance For Global Justice‘s Heather Day
  • After Heather spoke the room listened attentively to the powerful storytelling of Roger Fernandes of the lower Elwha Klallam tribe
  • After listening to stories of the salmon people and dancing a salmon dance lead by Roger, we heard from Valerie Segrest of the Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty project, who spoke on the importance of access to culturally appropriate foods, education, and community engagement in regards to food systems.
  • Pete Knutson, of Loki Fish Co, then addressed the importance of sustainable fisheries
  • After Pete, Steve Mashuda of Earthjustice spoke on the FDA approval of the first genetically engineered animal meant for consumption and the potential risks of Aquabounty’s patent of a sacred animal
  • After hearing from our speakers, it was time to eat! I spent the bulk of my afternoon ladling out our salmon nettle soup, as tray after tray of the wild salmon was brought out to hungry eaters.
  • The event ended with a call to action by Community Alliance For Global Justice’s Simone Alder which was followed by a closing ceremony by PNW canoe families.

I’m honored to have been part of such a successful and inspiring event and I look forward to working with CAGJ in the future to make more important and educational events happen!

CAGJ Press Release

KNKX coverage

King5 coverage

Food Insecurity In America

In the United States today 48.1 million Americans (13.5%, 52.6% of that number being Hispanic or Black )  live in food insecure households. “Food insecurity” is defined by the U.S Department of Agriculture as resource constraints leading to serious problems, such as families experiencing hunger, being unable to purchase a balanced diet, enough food for their children, or parents skipping meals so their children can eat.  Food insecurity rates among Native Americans are twice the already high rate for the general U.S. population, and three times higher than food insecurity rates for white Americans.

The implications of hunger go beyond obesity and diabetes. Childhood food insecurity has been closely linked to higher incidences of infection, weakened immune systems, developmental issues, learning disabilities, difficulty in social interaction, anxiety, and inability to function in a classroom setting, creating increased boundaries for children of color from birth. Hunger affects all members of communities, often placing increased strains on mothers, children, the disabled and the elderly.

A legacy of colonialism and a stripping of native people and other people of color of their rights and access to culturally appropriate foods and practices has resulted in poverty, health problems, and systemic lack of access nationwide. Current discourses around food and distribution systems in the United states often fail to address the structural racism, history of exploitation, and power dynamics that exist inherently within these systems of the United States.

Food is more than a health issue, it is a community development, cultural and equity issue. Access to healthy affordable and culturally appropriate foods are key components of any functional and sustainable food system and any healthy functioning community overall. Access is essential in being able to maintain cultural practices, nourishing diets, and health. Recognizing this countries exploitative nature is necessary for moving towards reform and creating effective systems that provide for all. All people deserve the right to have access to the tools necessary to succeed and live healthy, fulfilling lives.

Though examining this countries history of racial and socioeconomic disparity can result in awkwardness if the fact that native people suffer 510% higher rates of alcoholism, 600% higher rates of tuberculosis, 189% higher rates of diabetes, and 62% higher rates of suicide isn’t a call to action for full system reform, I don’t know what is.

 

Internship Technicalities

This quarter has been a very different one for me. Though I’ve enjoyed my internship thoroughly and plan to continue on with my work in CAGJ, I have felt a sense of frustration in the fact that I have not been able to share so much of what I have been working so tirelessly on, on my WordPress because of privacy and the nature of the work. So, though I can’t share spreadsheets and individual contact information for obvious reasons, I will do my best to provide a summary of the work I have been working on with CAGJ this quarter!

I have: 

  • Conducted research and created briefs on the issues of net pen aquaculture and genetically engineered salmon
  • Researched local tribes and their relationship to salmon extensively
  • Compiled resource lists
  • Compiled articles, videos, and media relating to the subject
  • Assisted in the planning of our March 11th Wild Salmon Cook-out
  • Sent and drafted numerous e-mails
  • Contacted and created relationships with community partners to sponsor our event
  • Kept an up to date RSVP list for the event
  • Created bi-weekly updates of the event facebook page and the general CAGJ facebook page
  • Created and posted tweets for the CAGJ twitter
  • Created memes to spread information on GE salmon and our event

I look forward to providing more updates, images and a rundown of our March 11th Wild salmon cookout.

What Is Food Sovereignty?

Nutritious food is essential for any community to function. The capitalist commodity food system that functions practically worldwide creates uneven access, hunger, health problems, and poverty. Food Sovereignty, a term coined by La Via Campesina at the World Food Summit in 1996 is a movement rooted in peasant, landless, small and medium scale farmers and indigenous resistance of capitalist corporate control of the food system. Food Sovereignty functions in defense of small-scale sustainable agriculture and the right of people to have access to healthy, culturally appropriate foods. Since La Via Campesina’s foundation in 1993, it has become one of the largest social movements in the world, bringing together more than 200 million small and medium scale farmers, women farmers, indigenous peoples and migrant agricultural workers from 70 countries.

The Seven Principles of Food Sovereignty are:

1. Food: A basic human right,
Everyone must have access to safe, nutritious and culturally appropriate food in sufficient quantity and quality to sustain a healthy life with full human dignity. Each nation should declare that access to food is a constitutional right and guarantee the development of the primary sector to ensure the concrete realization of this fundamental right.
2. Agrarian reform
A genuine agrarian reform is necessary which gives landless and farming people — especially women — ownership and control of the land they work and returns territories to indigenous peoples. The right to land must be free of discrimination on the basis of gender, religion, race, social class or ideology; the land belongs to those who work it.
3. Protecting Natural Resources
Food Sovereignty entails the sustainable care and use of natural resources, especially land, water, and seeds and livestock breeds. The people who work the land must have the right to practice sustainable management of natural resources and to conserve biodiversity free of restrictive intellectual property rights. This can only be done from a sound economic basis with security of tenure, healthy soils and reduced use of agro-chemicals.
4. Reorganizing Food Trade
Food is first and foremost a source of nutrition and only secondarily an item of trade. National agricultural policies must prioritize production for domestic consumption and food self-sufficiency. Food imports must not displace local production nor depress prices.
5. Ending the Globalization Of Hunger
Food Sovereignty is undermined by multilateral institutions and by speculative capital. The growing control of multinational corporations over agricultural policies has been facilitated by the economic policies of multilateral organizations such as the WTO, World Bank and the IMF. Regulation and taxation of speculative capital and a strictly enforced Code of Conduct for TNCs [Trans-National Corporations] is therefore needed.
6. Social Peace
Everyone has the right to be free from violence. Food must not be used as a weapon. Increasing levels of poverty and marginalization in the countryside, along with the growing oppression of ethnic minorities and indigenous populations, aggravate situations of injustice and hopelessness. The ongoing displacement, forced urbanization, repression and increasing incidence of racism of smallholder farmers cannot be tolerated.
7. Democratic Control
Smallholder farmers must have direct input into formulating agricultural policies at all levels. The United Nations and related organizations will have to undergo a process of democratization to enable this to become a reality. Everyone has the right to honest, accurate information and open and democratic decision-making. These rights form the basis of good governance, accountability and equal participation in economic, political and social life, free from all forms of discrimination. Rural women, in particular, must be granted direct and active decision making on food and rural issues.

Though the need to connect with the land is by no means a new sentiment in this hyper-industrialized age, groups of indigenous people’s worldwide have taken action to revitalize their own rich cultural traditions and farming practices. For Native people across the America’s, conquest caused the loss of homelands, culture, language, and ancient wisdom among other terrible losses. Through conquest, many tribes lost touch with their traditional eating ways and fatty, salty government rationed foods took over, causing terrible outcomes for tribal health.

Good food is essential. When we talk about food systems we often talk about food security- having enough food- but beyond having enough it is essential to acknowledge and value indigenous food-related knowledge and wisdom to promote community mobilization and sustenance. At this point in time, reconnecting to land, rediscovering growing practices and revitalizing cultural traditions and attempting to reverse the unhealthy eating that has resulted from the loss of land and rights is essential in the physical and mental health of tribal nations.

Here is a short list of Tribal groups across the country working towards Food Sovereignty and increased understanding and appreciation of their own native food practices:

 

Project Reflection

Feb 12th, 2017

Though it feels as though this quarter has just started, looking back on the first five weeks of winter quarter I feel a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction with my work. Adjusting to an SOS after working independently Fall and half of Spring quarter has been a welcome change, I feel as though this quarter, even though I am only in Olympia one day a week, I have rekindled my connection with the Evergreen community.

Though with an internship comes a large commitment and responsibility, my work with CAGJ has felt rewarding and productive. Working to acknowledge systemic issues in productive ways is very important to me at this moment in time and it feels good to walk away from the international district basement on Wednesday and Friday nights knowing that even though I may not be dismantling the whole government I am contributing to the distribution of knowledge, and education of people on subjects and issues that are so often forgotten in media.

Much of the work I have done for the internship has been difficult to translate directly into my website but I feel proud of the posts I have created and the two pieces of writing I have gotten published on the CAGJ website. Beyond writing and research work I have stayed busy helping with the planning of our March 11th “Wild Salmon Cookout: Stand With Northwest Tribes to Stop GE Fish”. With the planning has come extensive e-mail writing, spreadsheet making, resource gathering, RSVP checking, Community Partner outreach, content creation, and updating of the facebook event page.

The internship has given me an inside look at the world of nonprofits and shown me how much really goes into being actively invested in the surrounding community and the work necessary for an up to date blog, community events, solidarity campaigns, and grassroots organizing. The internship has been an excellent opportunity to further expand upon my research and writing skills and has brought a sense of awareness to the work that lays behind so many of the events we attend. 

Though my weeks have been jam packed with my internship, SOS work, my website and a new job, I do not regret taking on everything I have on my plate at the moment. Though at this point in the quarter, my project looks somewhat different than what I anticipated, I am happy with where I am and interested in the research and planning I have been conducting.

Resources and Fast Facts On Genetically Engineered Salmon

In preparation for our March 11th salmon cookout event, my colleagues and I at CAGJ have worked tirelessly to keep RSVPs updated, emails responded to and information shared. In our preparation for the event, we have created an information and resource post on GE salmon and northwest tribal resistance.
The following is the information that will be posted on the CAGJ blog!

The FDA approved AquaAdvantage genetically-engineered salmon for consumption November 2015.

NORTHWEST NATIVE RESISTANCE TO GE SALMON

 

FURTHER INFORMATION ON GE SALMON

From Friends of the Earth:

From PCC Natural Markets:

Other Resources:

FAST FACTS ON GE SALMON

Risks to the environment and other fish:

  • Genetically engineered fish pose serious risks to wild populations of fish and our marine environment. (1)
  • Each year millions of farmed salmon escape from open-water net pens — outcompeting wild populations for resources and straining ecosystems. (1)
  • Escaped GE salmon can also lead to genetic pollution and a decline in population levels. (1)
  • Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences notes that a release 1.of just 60 GE fish into a wild population of 60,000 would lead to the extinction of the wild population in less than 40 fish generations. (1)
  • Once the production of GE fish becomes commercialized, it will be impossible to control the whereabouts of every individual fish and assure compliance with appropriate containment measures. (1)
  • Even if escaped fish are sterile they may still cause serious harm to the environment and wild fish populations. The Canadian Department of Fisheries conducted research on Coho salmon with an engineered growth hormone similar to the AquAdvantage Salmon and found that genetically engineered salmon were more aggressive when searching for food (the growth hormone made them hungrier), and in some instances resorted to cannibalism. The aggressive behavior evident in genetically engineered Coho salmon led to population crashes and even the complete extinction of some wild salmon species in the study. (2)
  • AquaBounty says it will raise its GE fish only in land-based facilities and market the eggs, not the fish. AquaBounty also claims it will produce only sterile females. But fish are known to change sex and the company’s own documents show 5 percent of its GE fish could be fertile and could reproduce. (3)

Impacts on human health:

  • Data on human health impacts of GE fish is sparse, but some recent studies provide cause for serious concern. For example, the routine use of antibiotics to control diseases often found in farm-raised fish may already be impacting human health. (1)
  • GE salmon will offer fewer omega 3s — the essential fatty acid that supports brain health, helps manage inflammation, and is found in very few foods. (4)
  • GE salmon contain higher levels of the growth hormone IGF-1, a known carcinogen. (4)
  • The FDA is moving forward with approval based on tests with only six GE fish for allergenicity. According to Michael Hansen, Ph.D., senior scientist at Consumers Union (CU), even this limited testing showed an increase in allergy-causing potential. (3)

Transparency in risk assessment:

  • Just one study on one fish disease was done on the AquAdvantage salmon. That study found that the AquAdvantage salmon got sick faster than control salmon. (1)
  • According to the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans risk assessment, the GE salmon showed diminished growth rates in AquaBounty’s commercial facilities, raising questions about the company’s claims that the GMO salmon would have more accelerated growth rates. (2)
  • In 2009, AquaBounty’s egg production facility on Prince Edward Island was infected with Infectious Salmon Anemia, which it failed to report to the FDA. ISA is an extremely deadly salmon virus that decimated the Chilean and Scottish salmon farming industries. If ISA or other diseases were to break out at genetically engineered fish farms and then those fish escaped, they could wreak havoc on wild populations. (2)
  • The information on Salmon Anaemia was not included in FDA’s review. (3)
  • “The FDA has said it didn’t consider any kind of economic impacts when reviewing this fish,” says Colin O’Neil at the Center for Food Safety. (3)
  1. http://www.foe.org/system/storage/877/62/2/579/Issue_Brief_-_GE_Fish_Oct_2011.pdf
  2. http://webiva-downton.s3.amazonaws.com/877/bb/6/7367/2/IssueBrief_GeneticallyEngineeredFish.pdf
  3. http://www.pccnaturalmarkets.com/sc/1302/fda_ge_salmon.html
  4. http://www.pccnaturalmarkets.com/nutrition/ask/ge_salmon.html

About My Internship

For the past five weeks, I have spent my Wednesdays and Fridays in the basement of an office space in Chinatown, working with Community Alliance for Global Justice, an organization that has consistently fought for effective and creative collaborative action against the injustices that exist within this country, and worldwide, since 1999.

CAGJ works to provide education by hosting workshops and guest speakers while providing communities with information regarding corporate globalization, existing alternatives, and resources for resisting. Through grassroots organizing, research, analysis, and media outreach CAGJ have remained an active part of the pacific northwest movement fighting for positive alternatives to corporate control in the current capitalist food system.

Being that CAGJ is largely volunteer run, my work as an intern has felt far from trivial (no coffee runs or daily trips to the copy machine).

In my work thus far I have:

  • Drafted and sent e-mails to the Department of Ecology against genetically engineered salmon
  • Conducted research on genetically engineered salmon
  • Created a brief and conducted research on net-pen aquaculture
  • Done research on the significance of salmon to PNW tribes and compiled resources
  • Began outreach and helped publicize our March 11th wild salmon cookout
  • Started work for a CAGJ blog on genetically engineered salmon
  • Spreadsheet work and gathering contact information
  • Researched organizations and activists surrounding the issue of GE salmon

Though I have yet to post all of my internship work on this blog, stay tuned for posts regarding the issues I, and CAGJ are currently committed to fighting against.

March 11th Wild Salmon Cook-out

Wild Salmon Cook-out: Stand with Northwest Tribes to Stop GE Fish!

SAT March 11, 10:30AM – 12:30PM

Location: wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ – Intellectual House

University of Washington, 4249 Whitman Court, Seattle, WA 98195

Join us for a salmon cook-out to stop genetically engineered fish! Community Alliance for Global Justice is collaborating with the Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty Project and the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance to host a community gathering to learn more about how GE salmon threatens a cultural and ecological keystone species in our region.

We will especially highlight Northwest tribal relationships to salmon, and how biotech companies are threatening treaty rights. In 2014, the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians passed a resolution opposing the introduction of GE salmon, and the Quinault Tribe is one of 12 plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the FDA for approving AquaBounty’s GE salmon.

Cook-Out: Enjoy cooking demonstration, lunch and a salmon tasting!

Speakers: Fish cooks and Valerie Segrest, Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty Project

We look forward to sparking convivial conversation and community engagement around this important environmental, food justice, and Indigenous Rights issue. We are pleased to host this event at the UW Intellectual House, whose traditional name – wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ –  comes from the Luhshootseed language and is phonetically pronounced “wah-sheb-altuh.”

Sponsored by Community Alliance for Global Justice, Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty Project and Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance, with generous support from the Muckleshoot Tribe Charity Fund Grant Program.

Community Partners:

This event is FREE and open to the public. PLEASE RSVP: Email fjp@cagj.org

Help us publicize! Share the Facebook Event.

For more info, contact CAGJ: fjp@cagj.org, 205-405-4600.

Genetically Engineered Salmon Cause Threat to Wild Salmon Populations and Local Tribes

 

In November 2015, the FDA granted the approval of genetically engineered (GE) salmon developed by the Massachusetts-based biotech company Aquabounty. Known as “AquaAdvantage salmon”, the GE salmon is engineered with the growth hormone genes from a Chinook salmon and the DNA and anti-freeze genes of an eelpout. According to Aquabounty, these changes in the genetic makeup of the fish cause the production of growth hormones year-round and create a fish that grows at twice the rate of a normal salmon.

 

From fish cannibalism to wild salmon depletion

The goal of the AquaAdvantage salmon is to boost productivity – and therefore profit for Aquabounty – but in doing so, numerous risks come into play. Though AquaBounty has attempted to assure the public that the risk of farmed salmon escaping into wild populations is low, each year over 2 million farmed salmon escape from open-water net pens into the north Atlantic, in turn straining ecosystems and outcompeting wild salmon populations, and in some cases causing the fish to resort to cannibalism. Research studies have concluded that if fertile male GE salmon were to escape from captivity, they would likely succeed in breeding and passing their mutated genes into the wild. In a recent study, the National Academy of Sciences concluded that if a release of 60 GE salmon into a wild population were to occur, a populace of 60,000 wild fish could become extinct in less than 40 salmon generations. If GE salmon are released, it is likely that they will join  the millions of salmon that escape yearly, putting entire ecosystems and populations at even higher risks than they are today.

 

Murky waters surround regulation

AquaAdvantage salmon are the first genetically engineered animal meant for consumption to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Beyond the risk of decimating entire salmon populations and turning them into frankenfish, with genetically engineered foods also comes the high risk of health problems in humans, in part from heavy antibiotic use and hormones in the breeding. At this point in time, there is a lack of independent scientific research on these salmon as the FDA decided the fish are safe to eat based solely on data provided by AquaBounty.

 While the FDA has determined that no additional labeling of AquAdvantage Salmon is required, but could be voluntary, WA State Senator Maria Cantwell issued a statement in December 2015 condemning the FDA’s approval of GE salmon, supporting the development of labeling guidelines, and requiring GE labeling for these fish. However, without stronger regulation and labeling requirements, companies that decide to sell AquaAdvantage salmon could choose not to label the GE fish on grocery store shelves, leaving consumers in the dark.

 

Fighting back

Following a GE-free seafood campaign organized by Friends of the Earth and a coalition of over 30 health, food safety and fishing groups, over 60 grocery store chains nationwide have committed to keeping genetically modified salmon off their shelves, including, Costco, Safeway, Kroger, and Trader Joe’s. CAGJ played a role in getting Costco to make this commitment, which it publically announced on the day that the FDA approved GE salmon.

 In 2014, The Muckleshoot Tribe and the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI) called on the FDA to deny all applications to distribute genetically engineered salmon in the U.S. without prior completion of an Environmental Impact Statement and scientific review that sufficiently consulted with Northwest Treaty Tribes. Virginia Cross, Muckleshoot Tribal Council Chair, stated that “genetically engineered salmon not only threaten our way of life, but could also adversely affect our treaty rights to take fish at our usual and accustomed places.”

 The National Congress of American Indians joined the effort, and passed a resolution to “oppose the introduction of and sale of genetically engineered salmon in the United states if the FDA decides to allow it and requests tribal consultation on the matter before any action by the FDA.” In July 2016, The Quinault Indian Nation of the Northwest and 11 other plaintiffs joined in filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the approval of AquaBounty’s genetically engineered salmon.

 Being that the native people of the Pacific Northwest region are often referred to as “The Salmon People”, it comes as little surprise that local tribes have been outspoken against questions of genetically modified fish. Valerie Segrest, educator and member of the Muckleshoot tribe stated that “The Coast Salish people have organized their lives around salmon for thousands of years, We see them as our greatest teachers, giving their lives for us to have life. Corporate ownership of such a cultural keystone is a direct attack on our identity and the legacy our ancestors have left us. Absent indisputable evidence that there is no harm in human consumption, wild fish habitat or the treaty-protected fishing rights of Northwest Indians the FDA must not permit the promised increase of production efficiency to trump sound science or fishing rights and culture of Northwest Indians.”

 Salmon are vital to the social, economic and spiritual lives of native peoples across the Northwest, making it necessary to study the economic, social and environmental impacts of genetically engineering what has for thousands of years been a cultural staple. It is essential to let corporations know that people, indigenous culture, native wildlife populations, and ecosystems must come before their profits.

 

Learn more at CAGJ’s Wild Salmon Cook-out

SAT March 11, 10:30AM – 12:30PM

Location: wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ – Intellectual House

University of Washington, 4249 Whitman Court, Seattle, WA 98195