Dear Editor,

Did you know that the federal government of Canada approved the use of the drug Thalidomide, and that Canada was the last country on earth to ban its use? A full year after it was banned elsewhere?

Let us be the first to keep freakish fish out of our country. Let us wait at least 50 years to see how the rest of the genetically modified organism experiments end up.

Stop it now. Should we trust the Canadian government?

I am writing to express my urgent concern about the risks of genetically modified (GM) fish and to ask you to make sure Environment Canada does not approve production of dangerous GM Atlantic salmon eggs or fish in Canada.

The US company AquaBounty wants to produce all of its GM salmon eggs on Prince Edward Island and then ship the eggs to Panama for growing out and processing, to send the fish into the U.S. consumer market. This plan is extremely risky for Canada and the rest of the world.

I am alarmed that the entire process for assessing environmental risk is secret and that the public has no chance to be involved or be consulted.

AquaBounty plans to ship GM salmon eggs from P.E.I. to Panama, but Canada has not even ratified the United Nations Protocol on Biosafety which regulates the international movement of Living Modified Organisms.

Canada has an international responsibility to stop living pollution. Please instruct Environment Canada to reject any request to approve production of GM salmon or salmon eggs. The risk to Atlantic salmon is too great.

I urge you to take immediate action to stop GM salmon in order to protect endangered wild Atlantic salmon.

We don't want another Thalidomide

Sincerely,

Wally Martin, Murrayville