gmoSalmon

They’ve finally done it! Science has finally discovered yet another way to eff up our food system and after years of research and manipulation, government regulators are now gung-ho and ready to let genetically engineered fish (salmon specifically) enter our food supply.

Last Friday, the Food and Drug Administration’s concluded that genetically modified salmon would have no “significant impact” on the environment, quietly approving the first genetically modified animal for human consumption.

This “Frankenfish” (named by opponents) or AquaAdvantage salmon contains a growth hormone borrowed from the Chinook salmon and a genetic switch from the ocean that activates as an anti-freeze gene. Salmon that has been genetically modified can now produce the essential growth hormone even in cold weather that allows them to grow to market rate in 18 months instead of three years.

AcquaBounty, the company that’s spent millions on research and fighting to get approval from the FDA maintains, that the salmon will be safe to eat and have little environmental consequences, special interest groups aren’t buying it:

The New York Times reports: ““The G.E. salmon has no socially redeeming value,” Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food Safety, a Washington advocacy group opposed to farm biotechnology, said in a statement. “It’s bad for the consumer, bad for the salmon industry and bad for the environment. F.D.A.’s decision is premature and misguided.”

Genetically engineered salmon have the potential to escape, compete with wiild Atlantic salmon for food or mates and have a detrimental impact on the environmental survival of natural salmon. Another concern is the potential cause for human allergies.

According to the federal guidelines, consumers will not have the benefit of knowing whether the salmon they buy in store or purchase at restaurants is genetically engineered or completely natural. AcquaBounty argues that genetically modified salmon will contain the same texture, flavor and color of convential salmon, baring no need for labeling.

The hurried release of the Environmental Assessment last Friday capped a frenzied two days behind the scenes at the White House and FDA. Within hours after the Slate article and leaked document were posted, an administration official notified the FDA that the administration was dropping its indefinite hold. “The White House had no place to hide,” said a government source. The “final” draft environmental assessment is identical to the document leaked to the GLP, but is dated May 4—two weeks later.

What do you think about genetically modified salmon?

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18 Comments

  1. I think I won’t be eating Salmon anymore! It’s sad that money can trump common sense!

  2. Just for the interest of substance; what are the negative outcomes of ths salmon for consumers and the environment?

  3. Who decides this ?

  4. Why do this ? Why ?

  5. i think i am going to pass on the Salmon. :/

  6. The issues with GMO Salomon are related to the consumer and the environment.

    The environment will be impacted in potentially three ways. First the salmon have been modified and the long term implications of breeding them is unknown. After several generations of breeding we do not know how the salmons hormone levels will change / if inbreeding will occur (even though inbreeding can result in a desirable phenotype, it goes against natures intention of diverse breeding and typically retardation occurs).

    Secondly we do not know how these salmon will impact the environment when they are introduced into the wild (eventually this will happen regardless of regulations). Speculating on the possible outcomes, they could range from: taking another organisms food source (possibly to the point of extinction for the other species), they could become a relied upon food source (i.e. could result in a huge increase in the bear population) and we do not know how that will affect these animals (it could be adverse in the long run).

    Lastly the salmon did not occur in nature and although this is redundant to the other points I feel it needs to be stressed. “If it doesn’t occur in nature it probably doesn’t belong there.”

    As far as the consumer is concerned this is an unknown. If history teaches us anything our bodies were intended to digest naturally occurring foods and nothing else. Consider chicken with growth hormones. The result of the hormones in chicken results in wound girls having premature growth of their bodies and many develop breasts early. All joking aside about how bigger breasts are a good thing… it is unnatural and throws off their hormone levels growth and may affect their reproduction. Since hormone levels in chicken result in adverse effects on the consumers (particularly developing children) and Genetically modified foods are modified using hormones than this is a no-brainer!

    GENETICALLY ENGINEERED FOODS (aka Hormone modified foods) ARE BAD FOR US!

    It is the fact that we do not know and combined with what we do know genetically modified foods are a bad idea. Our earth is an ecosystem and therefore has balance. Any time we throw off the balance we are asking for trouble.

    • @kevin:
      hormones aren’t being added to the fish, they have created a double recessive senerio, the fish produce naturally occuring growth hormone with in them selves regardless of external temperature. all that has happened is that the envirmental trigger that normally stunted slamons growth during the winter has been turned off.

  7. GE fish could cause allergic reactions that the FDA is unable to anticipate. And how are they going label the GE fish accordingly?

  8. They have been working on this for years! The masses will not know or care until their offspring are born with horrible defects. The Frankfish will for sure get loose into the wild population and further screw things up. Corporate greed will flourish while the eco-system suffers. Nothing new. Welcome to Amerika!

  9. Salmon is my absolute favorite fish. I am a pescatarian so its what steak is to some of you. I hope that someone figures out a way to label these genetically engineered fish… they will not taste and the same and the nutrients will not be on the same level. I am certain about this.

  10. I am vegan, so this doesn’t effect me, but it upsets me. It is sneaky the way they do this. They know that absolutely nobody wants this. They do this stuff behind people’s backs and it should not be allowed.

    • I am transitioing to a vegan diet. This is so sad and scary. That is why I think we should have our own grocery stores and train our children in agriculture and gardening so that we can grow our own food locally too. It sad because some people will still eat the fish and bless it with prayer, but God wants us to have common sense.

  11. FDA = Idiots

  12. Federal Disease Association, controlled by the House of Rothschild.

  13. Shouldnt mess with Mother nature..Years down the road, when we pay for FDA’s snap decisions. We wonder why more people are sickly..Its the food we ingest..LEAVE OUR FISH ALONE..Just one voice

  14. No wonder there is an epidemic of diabetes, obesity, food allergies, etc… The food supply is so messed up. I don’t know what to eat anymore. Have gone vegetarian over the last 6 months or so, but this story scares me.

  15. I would be more than happy to try it.

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