 Lost Jobs:The economic cost of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration plan to ban traditional, raw Gulf Coast oysters "The FDA's decision to impose new draconian standards that threaten the very existence of an oyster industry along the Gulf Coast is unprecedented and unwarranted."
- Sen. Bill Nelson, D-FL & Rep. Allen Boyd Jr., D-FL
"The effect of the proposed ban would greatly impact the Gulf Coast oyster industry and threaten thousands of jobs here in Louisiana and all along the coast."
- Secretary Robert Barham of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries
"I'm not buying a frozen or pasteurized oyster. And it's a false assumption that the Gulf oyster business can survive with such harsh new regulations."
- Chris Hastings, owner of the Hot and Hot Fish Club in Birmingham, Alabama
"What is particularly interesting is while the FDA seems focused on domestic oyster production, there is wide evidence that imported seafood is a far greater health threat, and there seems to
be little movement by the FDA to get their arms around that problem."
-Secretary Alan Levine of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals
"Two-thirds of Alabama's 50 mom-and-pop oyster shops would close."
- Avery Bates, vice president of the Organized Seafood Association-Alabama
"It would kill the industry."
- Anita Grove, executive director of the Apalachicola (FL) Chamber of Commerce
"I think it would hurt my business a great deal."
- Mack Carter, owner of Shuckums Oyster Bar in Panama City, Florida
"This would cost us thousands of jobs and tens of millions of dollars if we were unable to sell our oysters as we do today."
- Al Sunseri of P & J Oyster Co. in New Orleans
"The impact to the industry... we know it's huge. The impact would be dramatic and we're very concerned about that."
-Alan Peirce, Florida Division of Aquaculture
"A ban will have a devastating effect on the coastal economy."
- Leo "Chipper" McDermott, Mayor of Pass Christian, Mississippi
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