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Oct 2, 2019

Young defends Indiana salmon facility, free market principles in The Star Press

Senate provision threatens to cease production at AquaBounty Technologies in Albany and put Hoosiers out of work

In an op-ed for The Star Press, U.S. Senator Todd Young (R-Ind.) argues for protecting jobs and the production of genetically engineered salmon in Albany, Indiana. Senator Young recently led a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee voicing concern over a provision in an agriculture appropriations bill that would prohibit the commercialization of genetically engineered salmon. If enacted, this provision would cause AquaBounty Technologies in Albany to have to cease production immediately and put Hoosiers out of work. “The results would be this: 160,000 fish currently maturing in Albany would be euthanized. Dozens of Hoosiers would be out of a job. The operation would be moved to another country — likely China — which sees the incredible value in dominating agriculture innovation,” Senator Young writes. “If one legacy industry can manipulate Congress to unilaterally kill one innovative company, how free is our free market? I’m doing everything I can to keep this provision out of our funding bills to protect innovation and ensure the free market is allowed to operate.”  Read the full op-ed here.