Alaska’s senior senator isn’t backing off her fight to label genetically modified salmon, and she said Monday she’ll go as far as blocking confirmation of the Food and Drug Administration’s next commissioner.

In a statement released Monday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said she “will not stand back and just watch these genetically engineered creatures be placed in our kitchens and on our tables without a fight.

The “creatures” Murkowski refers to are the genetically engineered Atlantic salmon approved for human consumption by the FDA on Nov. 19. The fish, engineered by the Massachusetts-based company AquaBounty, grow at twice the rate of farm-raised Atlantic salmon due to a growth hormone gene from Pacific Chinook salmon and a genetic switch from the ocean pout, which keeps the growth hormone gene active year-round.

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