Senate Democrat calls for vanquishing 'Frankenfish'

An Alaska Democrat said Tuesday that one of his top legislative priorities in 2011 is vanquishing a little-known creature he calls “Frankenfish.”

“Frankenfish,” according to Sen. Mark Begich, are genetically altered salmon. And the senator says they threaten Alaska’s salmon-fishing industry.

Begich — speaking at a marine science event in Anchorage on Tuesday — said he plans to introduce legislation in the coming weeks that would block the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from allowing genetically altered fish to be sold for human consumption. He introduced similar legislation in the last Congress.

“Many call them ‘Frankenfish’ for good reasons: a monster that threatens our wild stocks and their habitat, our food safety and economic harm to Alaska wild-salmon fishermen,” Begich said.

The legislation would block the FDA from approving a proposal by a company called AquaBounty Technologies, which hopes to breed genetically altered fish with “increased growth rates, enhanced resistance to disease, better food-conversion rates [and] manageable breeding cycles,” according to its website.

If the FDA approves the proposal, Begich said he will introduce legislation requiring the fish to be labeled as genetically altered.