ISSAQUAH, Wash. — A coalition including Community Alliance for Global Justice, fishermen, members of UFCW Local 21 and concerned Costco customers rallied in front of the Costco next door to store headquarters and presented more than 300,000 petition signatures demanding that Costco Wholesale (COST) publicly commit to not sell GMO salmon.

Earlier this year, on March 7, the coalition attempted to deliver over 50,000 petitions to the Costco store in Downtown Seattle, to no avail. In response to the store manager’s refusal to accept the petitions, allied groups across the nation, including Friends of the Earth, Food & Water Watch, Center for Food Safety, Food Democracy Now!, Sum of Us, Community Alliance for Global Justice, Campaign for Safe Food, and Organic Consumers Association, collected more than six times the amount of signatures and local allies attempted to deliver them directly to Costco’s headquarters early this morning.

In response to this campaign led by Friends of the Earth and allies, more than 60 retailers, including Target, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Safeway and Kroger, representing more than 9,000 grocery stores across the country, have made commitments to not sell this genetically modified fish, should it be approved by the FDA. Although Costco is one of the largest retailers of salmon and seafood in the U.S., and headquartered in the Northwest region, home to Pacific wild salmon, it has yet to make a similar public commitment.

“More than 300,000 people from across the country are asking Costco not to sell genetically modified salmon. Costco, a seemingly progressive company, is located in our backyard. By delivering these signatures directly to Costco’s front door, it is our hope that they will no longer be able to ignore the risks posed by genetically modified salmon and make the pledge,” says Danielle Friedman, Organizing Director of the Community Alliance for Global Justice.  

Nearly two million people — including scientists, fishermen, business owners and consumers — have written to the FDA in opposition to the approval of genetically engineered salmon due to the risks it poses to human health, environment and wild salmon populations. Recently, a never-before-seen Canadian government report raised new environmental and health concerns not being considered by the FDA. Despite this outcry and new sustainability and safety concerns, the FDA is still considering GMO salmon’s approval. If approved, this would be the first genetically engineered animal allowed by regulators to enter the U.S. food supply, and it will likely not be labeled.