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Local advocates take to Charlottetown street telling the public GMO salmon has been sold in Canada

CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. - Isaac Hemphill worries he might eat genetically modified salmon without knowing it.

Mackenzie Dutton, left, and Isaac Hemphill take a few minutes during a visit to Charlottetown Tuesday morning as they join local activists who oppose the sale of genetically modified salmon.
Mackenzie Dutton, left, and Isaac Hemphill take a few minutes during a visit to Charlottetown Tuesday morning as they join local activists who oppose the sale of genetically modified salmon.

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That’s why the Vancouver resident said he buys his fish from local markets.
“I think it’s pretty much fresh.”
Hemphill was walking along Water Street in Charlottetown Tuesday morning on his way to breakfast with someone when they came across a small group handing out leaflets and volunteered to hold a banner for a few minutes.
That banner read “Welcome to P.E.I. home of the GM frankenfish.”
It was a reference to the genetically modified fish AquaBounty Technologies has been producing using Atlantic salmon that have genetic material from ocean pout and Chinook salmon.
Eggs produced in the company’s P.E.I. facility get shipped to Panama to grow.
AquaBounty said in a recent fiscal update it sold about 4.5 tonnes of AquaAdvantage salmon fillets in Canada between April and June.
The small group of people gathered in downtown Charlottetown Tuesday handed out leaflets telling people they could be eating genetically modified salmon.
Hemphill said he decided to lend a hand because he prefers to eat foods that are natural.
“I think the more you screw around with nature the worse it’s probably going to be with you in the end,” he said.
Leo Broderick, one of the event’s organizers, said the goal was to alert the public the AquaBounty salmon was on the market and not labelled.
Broderick said AquaBounty hasn’t reported where it sold the fish.
Loblaws and Sobeys confirmed they don’t sell AquaBounty salmon and don’t have plans to.
Broderick said people who buy salmon, like restaurant customers, don’t know if they are buying GMO fish.
“They should know,” he said.

[email protected]
Twitter.com/ryanrross

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