<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class="">New Study Highlights the Hazards of Imported Seafood, Demonstrates Risks from the TPP</span></b><b class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'MS Mincho';" class="">
</span></b><b class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></b></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class="">Food & Water Watch analysis shows 98% of imported seafood goes unchecked.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""> </span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class="">10.25.16<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""> </span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class="">Washington, D.C.— As Congress prepares to vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) after the November election, <a href="http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/insight/toxic-buffet-how-tpp-trades-away-seafood-safety" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><i class="">Toxic Buffet: How the TPP Trades Away Seafood Safety</i></a><i class="">,</i> a new report with unique data from Food & Water Watch, shows that the controversial trade deal will undermine food safety in the U.S. Today, 94 percent of American seafood is imported, and only two percent of imports are examined by trained government safety inspectors. The TPP is expected to increase imports from nations that routinely use antibiotics and chemicals in fish farming that are illegal in the United States.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""> </span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class="">“Last year alone, nearly 5.4 billion pounds of uninspected seafood entered the U.S. food supply,” said Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter. “The TPP will only increase seafood imports and further overwhelm already overtaxed border inspectors.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class="">Food & Water Watch examined a decade of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) import, inspection and rejection data from 2006 to 2015, exposing substantial weaknesses in our nation’s inspection systems for imported seafood. Key findings include:<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""> </span></div><ul type="disc" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;" class=""><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class="">Less than 1 percent of seafood imports are subject to laboratory testing for pathogens like Salmonella or Listeria, or the presence of illegal veterinary drugs.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class="">Although few imports are examined, the FDA rejected 11 percent of inspected shipments for food safety violations.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class="">The most common reasons imports were rejected was because they contained Salmonella, Listeria, filth or illegal veterinary drugs.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class="">The number of imports rejected for illegal veterinary drugs nearly tripled over the past decade, and comprised one-fourth of all FDA refusals between 2014 and 2015.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></li></ul><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""> </span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class="">In 2014, Americans ate 4.6 billion pounds of seafood—15 pounds per person. Most of these imports aren’t caught by fishing fleets, but are raised in high-density fish farms. Since these conditions contribute to disease, some nations, like TPP members Vietnam and Malaysia, rely on drugs, antibiotics and chemicals that are banned in the United States because of significant human health risks. Overuse of antibiotics has been shown to contribute to the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria, a growing public health threat.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""> </span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class="">Food & Water Watch found that the number of imported seafood shipments that the FDA rejected for illegal veterinary drugs nearly tripled over the past decade, increasing from just under 200 in 2006 to 535 in 2015. These illegal drug residues made up one-fourth (24.8 percent) of all FDA refusals between 2014 and 2015.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""> </span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class="">TPP members Malaysia and Vietnam already have checkered seafood safety records. Over the past decade, Malaysian seafood exports to the United States have been rejected three times more frequently than average, and Vietnam’s exports have been rejected twice as frequently. Their fish farming industries are also one of the biggest violators of U.S. bans on antibiotics and chemicals.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""> </span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class="">From 2006 to 2015, illegal veterinary drugs accounted for a large portion of the FDA’s rejections from Malaysia (64.1 percent) and Vietnam (17.2 percent)—far above the overall detection rate of illegal antibiotics. Seafood companies from Malaysia and Vietnam accounted for a large portion of the FDA’s “Import Alerts” blocking all shipments for persistent violations of the ban on illegal veterinary drugs and chemicals.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""> </span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class="">“The TPP does nothing to ensure that exporters meet U.S. food safety standards,” said Hauter. “It includes countries with an appalling track record of shipping unsafe seafood to the United States and provides new, stronger tools for exporters to undermine our food safety system. The TPP rules could be used to challenge the FDA ‘red list’ of banned veterinary drugs in fish farming and would allow exporters to challenge border inspectors’ decisions to closely examine and test suspicious seafood imports.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""> </span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class="">To strengthen our nation’s seafood import inspection program and to ensure that international trade deals do not undermine U.S. food safety standards, Food & Water Watch recommends:<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""> </span></div><ul type="disc" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;" class=""><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class="">Strengthening oversight of imported seafood by increasing inspections. This must include implementing a statistically valid random sampling program to supplement the FDA’s current risk-based inspection system. Congress should provide the necessary funding and directives to ensure that the United States inspects at least 10 percent of seafood imports — far greater than the 2 percent currently inspected at the border.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></li></ul><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""> <o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><ul type="disc" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;" class=""><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class="">Strengthening laboratory testing of imported seafood by increasing the number of lab tests conducted and testing for a wider range of illegal veterinary drugs and chemicals.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></li></ul><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""> <o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><ul type="disc" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;" class=""><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class="">Increasing and sustaining the number of domestic and foreign seafood inspections. Congress must provide more funding for the FDA to perform more physical inspections of foreign facilities, and the FDA needs to prioritize these inspections at its foreign offices and coordinate with other agencies as necessary to inspect foreign seafood processing plants.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></li></ul><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""> <o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><ul type="disc" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;" class=""><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class="">Increasing the transparency of the FDA’s seafood inspection program by mandating that the agency annually disclose the number of foreign and domestic facility inspections, the number and results of feed mill inspections, as well as the number of seafood border inspectors.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></li></ul><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""> <o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><ul type="disc" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in;" class=""><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class="">Rejecting trade deals that undermine U.S. food safety standards.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></li></ul><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""> <o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class="">Food & Water Watch</span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""> champions healthy food and clean water for all. We stand up to corporations that put profits before people, and advocate for a democracy that improves people’s lives and protects our environment.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class="">Contact: Kate Fried, Food & Water Watch, (202) 683-4905, <a href="mailto:kfried@fwwatch.org" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class="">kfried@fwwatch.org</a>. <o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""> ###<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri;" class=""><span style="font-size: 11pt;" class=""> </span></div></body></html>