Winnemem Wintu Chief says Frankenfish must be stopped
by Dan Bacher
Caleen
Sisk, Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, said the
Tribe strongly opposes the tentative approval of genetically engineered
salmon by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
"Salmon
is in our traditional stories, songs and dances,” said Sisk. “We must
stay pure to exist in the ancient circle connecting our tribal customs
to salmon. The Winnemem Wintu have a right to protect salmon, and
certainly NOT allow them to be genetically modified in anyway. They must
not have their genes and DNA subject to exploring ideas.”
“It
must be recognized as an inherent right of Indigenous Peoples for the
Winnemem Wintu to hold the salmon as a relative that is so intrinsic to
our culture. There are complete eco systems based on the clarity,
knowledge and health of the salmon,” said Sisk.
“The
Winnemem Wintu object to GE production, as it would certainly impact
our obligation to salmon and would change the traditional responsibility
to salmon and our relationship that exists for thousands of years. It
is also the right of the tribes to expect the same engagement of the
omega 3's to maintain a quality of health to traditionally exchange with
the Winnemem Wintu, the trees, birds, animals, plants and soils as they
purify the waters on each of their once in their life journey,” she
concluded.
The
Winnemem Wintu Tribe, fishermen and environmental groups are currently
fighting federal government plans to raise Shasta Dam, as well as the
FDA’s approval of Frankenfish. The dam raise would result in the
flooding of the Tribe’s sacred sites.
The
dam expansion, planned in conjunction with the construction of the
Governor Jerry Brown’s peripheral tunnels, would also lead to the
extinction of Central Valley salmon, steelhead, Delta smelt and other
imperiled fish species.
The
Tribe is also working to bring back the original strain of winter run
chinook salmon, now thriving on the Rakaira River in New Zealand, back
to the Tribe’s ancestral river, the McCloud.
During
the Social Justice, Real Justice Conference at the University of
Oregon, Eugene from February 14-16, Chief Caleen Sisk led workshop and
showed a new film on the struggle to carry out the Tribe’s Coming of Age
Ceremony. She also participated in a panel, in collaboration with
Winona LaDuke, Dania Colegrove and Analia Hillman, entitled
“Environmental Justice and Human Rights on the River.”
There
isn’t much time left to stop the approval of genetically engineered
salmon. On December 21, 2012, the FDA released a draft environmental
assessment (EA) finding, in spite of much evidence to the contrary, that
genetically engineered (GE) AquaAdvantage salmon pose no risk to the
environment.
AquAdvantage
salmon is the trade name for a genetically modified Atlantic salmon
developed by AquaBounty Technologies. This “Frankensalmon” has been
modified by the addition of a growth hormone regulating gene from a
Pacific Chinook salmon and a promoter gene from an ocean eel pout to the
Atlantic's 40,000 genes. These genes enable the “Frankensalmon” to grow
year-round instead of only during spring and summer, thus increasing
the speed at which the fish grows.
The
document claimed that the fish "will not have any significant impacts
on the quality of the human environment of the United States." It also
claimed that the GE salmon, the first ever intended for human
consumption in the United States, is unlikely to harm populations of
wild salmon.
The
FDA made the finding in spite of a petition from conservation groups
requesting that it complete a comprehensive environmental impact
statement on the risks GE fish could present to the natural marine
environment.
Earthjustice
filed that petition in May 2011 on behalf of the Ocean Conservancy,
Food & Water Watch, Friends of the Earth, Center for Food Safety,
the Center for International Environmental Law and Greenpeace.
“FDA’s
narrow analysis fails to seriously consider the risks these genetically
engineered fish could pose to our natural environment,” said
Earthjustice attorney Khushi Desai. “If these fish mix with wild salmon,
the ecological harm could be devastating. This genetically engineered
fish puts the entire US salmon industry at risk, and most importantly it
could threaten the very survival of our native salmon populations.”
