San Francisco, 3 September - A pair of proposed laws to impose tighter regulations over transgenic fish died in California Assembly committees this weekend. In the state where food and industrial standards tend to dictate policies nationwide, passage of either bill would have given California the United States' strictest controls over transgenic animals.
One bill, introduced by Democratic Assemblywoman Virginia Strom-Martin, would have imposed a two-year moratorium on bringing any live, transgenic fish into the state, except for research purposes. A second bill would have required labeling food products containing transgenic fish or shellfish. Both proposed laws passed the California Senate, but ran into trouble in Assembly committees, which recommended against passage.
Attempts to restrict genetically modified fish came on the heels of a National Research Council report calling transgenic animals a potential danger to the environment.
Strom-Martin believes that existing regulations regarding transgenic fish are insufficient, according to Mary...
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