Aquaculture for all

Court Upholds Approval of GM AquaBounty Salmon

CANADA - An appeal brought against the approval of AquaBounty's genetically modified salmon has been dismissed by the Federal Court of Appeal in Canada.

AquaBounty’s fast-growing AquAdvantage® salmon is an Atlantic salmon with genes from Chinook salmon and ocean pout.

Canada's government previously gave the company its stamp of approval for production of eggs for the new type of salmon.

The dismissed appeal was brought by Ecojustice on behalf of the Ecology Action Centre and Living Oceans Society against Canada’s Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Minister of Health and AquaBounty Canada Inc. The Federal Court also ordered the appellants to pay one set of costs to the respondent Ministers and one set of costs to AquaBounty.

The dismissal means that production the GM salmon in Canada for commercial use remains allowed, as per the ruling passed by the Federal Court of Canada on 23 December 2015.

Ronald L. Stotish, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of AquaBounty, commented: “We welcome the decision made by the Court of Appeal. We thank the Ministries of Canada who were extraordinarily thorough and transparent in the review and approval of AquaBounty’s applications.

"Their decisions have now been convincingly reaffirmed in Canada’s courts. We have always maintained that our AquAdvantage Salmon are sustainably raised, healthy and a nutritious food. We will now focus on advancing our business plan and preparing to launch our product.”

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