Kevin Brady: “there is a reason America has the highest standards and the safest foods in the world, safer than Europe, more nutrition…”

“there is a reason America has the highest standards and the safest foods in the world, safer than Europe, more nutrition than Asia, using less pesticides and preserving more of the environment than any other Nation in the world. The reason is that time and time again America has refused to inject politics into our food safety process. However, that is what this amendment does. It contaminates our scientifically sound food safety process with politics. There is no scientific reason for the moratorium. The FDA already requires all food applicants, whether they are scientifically improved or not, to meet their highest safety standards, not just for human food consumption but for animal welfare and environmental safety. This amendment not only does not contribute to food safety, it actually harms it, because it says no matter how beneficial, no matter how strong and valuable this research is, we cannot even consider it. This does discourage research into aquaculture breakthroughs which help us develop fish stocks that are healthier, more abundant, and more immune to disease. That is important not just to farm catfish, not because we have decimated the world's fishing, but it helps to save the 30 percent of fish killed needlessly each year because of illness. If fish are healthy, the food is going to be healthy.”