Pew Environment Group Asks FDA to Apply Drug Rules to All Imported Farmed Salmon

According to the Environment Group of the Pew Charitable Trusts, salmon farming companies producing fish for export to the United States from Canada, Norway and Scotland are using pesticides and antibiotics that do not appear on the FDA/CVM Approved Drugs in Aquaculture list. In an April 23, 2009, letter to the acting Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner, the Pew Environment Group notes how FDA inspections have successfully addressed the use of banned drugs in Chile’s salmon farming facilities and calls for the agency to expand its focus to imports from other countries.

Contending that these drugs pose threats to human health and the environment, the group cites detailed evidence suggesting that other countries are using unapproved drugs in salmon aquaculture and asks the FDA (i) whether it intends to require all companies exporting salmon to the United States to adhere to U.S. regulations; (ii) how it reconciles its requirement that Chilean salmon companies use only “approved” drugs in aquaculture while allowing the U.S. salmon farming industry to use one of these unapproved drugs through an investigational new animal drug permit; and (iii) whether the agency has visited or plans to visit salmon production or processing facilities in Canada, Scotland, Ireland, Norway, China, or other salmon exporting regions.