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The FDA is on the brink of slapping genetically engineered salmon on supermarket shelves, which is troubling.

More troubling: While wild or farmed salmon currently require labels, salmon engineered to produce growth hormones that cause fish to grow at twice the normal rate doesn’t require labels, even though 90 percent of Americans want GMO labels on their food, as the Weekly explored with an opinion piece "Frankenfood Fight" last month.

Eric Schlosser, the Monterey County resident who brought us Fast Food Nation and Food, Inc., is encouraging voters to to sign a petition asking for a little sunshine on what's being done to our salmon—to help determine which fish is which.

"More than forty countries, including Russia and China, already require labels on genetically engineered foods," Schlosser and Gary Hirshberg email. "As Americans, we firmly believe that we deserve the same right to know what we are eating."

Click through this link to their petition to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration—which reads in part "We have a right to know about the food we eat and what we feed our families, but under current FDA regulations, we don't have that ability when it comes to genetically engineered foods"—to lend your name to the list.

Coincidentally, Schlosser's also using his influence to support Carmel City Councilman Jason Burnett's run for mayor. Last night they appeared together at a campaign function at tasty slow-food spot Carmel Belle (624-1600) as part of what Burnett is describing as a push to make Carmel even more palatable. I'll post more on the event later today (or tomorrow).

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