• September 15, 2010

Socially conscious ice cream maker Ben & Jerry's is co-sponsoring a rally and press conference Sept. 16 in front of the White House to ask President Obama to stop the pending approval of the first genetically modified animal for human consumption.

The Food and Drug Administration is close to approving a genetically engineered salmon. The salmon has genes from two other kinds of fish that make it grow twice as fast as other farmed salmon. This would be the first animal approved for human consumption that has been made in a laboratory with genes from different species of animals.

The FDA is taking public comment on the fish up until Sept. 16 and Ben & Jerry's is encouraging visitors to its website to join the company in telling the FDA not to approve the salmon.

The company says it cares about the issue "because we know that genetically engineered cows are in development, and we don't want their milk in our products." There is no long-term data to evaluate the safety of eating foods from GE animals, and export markets for American food products may be at risk if GE animals are commercialized in the U.S., the company adds.--Tanya Irwin