EMAIL SIGN UP!
Most Popular This Week
Popular content
Today's Top News
Giant Salmon Will Be First GM Animal Available for Eating
Usually Atlantic salmon do not grow during the winter and take three years to fully mature.
A gene-engineered fish, top, and a natural one of the same age. (AquaBounty)
But by implanting genetic material from an eel-like species called ocean pout
that grows all year round, US scientists have managed to make the fish grow
to full size in 18 months.
They hope that the sterile GM salmon can offer an efficient and safe way to breed salmon in fish farms, so that the wild fish can be left in the oceansUS watchdog the Food and Drug Administration is currently considering whether the GM Atlantic salmon, called AquAdvantage, is safe to eat. The fish could be on supermarket shelves within a year.
But environmental campaigners question whether the GM material is safe for humans to consume and fear the sterile salmon will mutate in the wild and be able to breed.
At the moment only GM crops like corn or soy are available for human consumption. Also the Daily Telegraph revealed recently that most animal products available in supermarkets, like meat, eggs or dairy, are from livestock fed GM.
But despite the creation of a GM mouse as early as the 1980s, the idea of eating modified animals does not appeal to the public.
AquaBounty, the Massachusetts company behind the GM salmon, say the fish will be sterile and therefore poses no risk to the wild.
The AquAdvantage would also be a much more energy efficient way to produce a nutritional food source, they claim.
Another project at the University of Guelph in Canada is developing a pig bred to digest food more effectively.
But Lord Melchett, policy director at the Soil Association, said the new technology is not worth the risk.
"Once you have bombarded an animal with other genes, the DNA is unstable, and there is no guarantee these fish remain sterile. It poses far too great a risk to wild salmon. A fish that grows that quickly is likely to lose some of its environmental benefits. There is no such thing as a free salmon lunch and we will pay the price," he said.
It will be a huge victory for the biotechnology industry if a GM animal becomes available for human consumption.
But in the UK, the public remains suspicious of 'Frankenfoods'. A Food Standards Agency survey to find out what the public think of the new technology is currently stalling after two leading academics resigned in protest at the government body's 'pro-GM' stance.
Comments
Note: Disqus 2012 is best viewed on an up to date browser. Click here for information. Instructions for how to sign up to comment can be viewed here. Our Comment Policy can be viewed here. Please follow the guidelines. Note to Readers: Spam Filter May Capture Legitimate Comments...
29 Comments so far
Show AllKing salmon is my favorite sea food. On the west coast, Atlantic salmon sold in stores is all farm raised and I won't buy it. West coast salmon is sold in stores as farm raised or wild. I only buy the wild. No way would I buy genetically modified salmon.
Blind wine and beer tastings are the best way to determine which brands actually taste good and which brands are the beneficiaries of savvy marketing.
If farm-raised salmon were blind tasted against wild salmon, most tasters would probably consider them mystery meat (such as we have found in miltary and other institutional food service meals) since they don't really taste like salmon.
The Government actively works to ensure you will not have that choice in the future. The runs of "Wild Salmon" grow smaller each year as parasites and toxins from the factory farmed salmon infest them as they migrate.
The Wild are not doused with all the antibiotics so they are less able to fight off these parasites.
The FDA ,USDA and other such agencies will no doubt declare that "Wild Salmon" are unsafe to eat after Politicans cash their contribution cheques from the Fish Farming lobby.
Omigawd, I didn't realize they are already messing with animal genetics for fun and profit. Big mistake. Oh, yeah, I forgot about the cloned sheep. Still, just because something is scientifically viable does not mean mankind is mature enough to handle it responsibly or deal with the consequences.
Had to look at the pic twice - salmon already are that "giant" size in the North Pacific (Alaska).
Next they will need to genetically engineer fish that can live in water that is 10% crude oil.
Followed by birds that can live in chemtrailed skies.
another step towards soylent green...
Obama is pushing to allow Frankenfoods. His Supreme Court nominee, Kagen, argued for Monsanto's GM alfalfa—before the Supreme Court, as U.S. Solicitor General.
It's profits before people, per usual. The Gulf Oil spill will look like child's play in comparison to the irreversible contamination of our fields, farms, oceans and the human food chain.
One day, we'll all see that Obama is an even bigger disaster than Bush, and we'll realize that it happened on our watch.
When the people finally realize that, it will be far too late.
Indeed --Obama is worse than Bush.
It used to a sin to play God.
these modified fish were designed to inhabit the Atlantic BDH...Before Deepwater Horizon...
how they, or any other, will fare ADH, After Deepwater Horizon, is yet to be seen...
everything is now divided into BDH and ADH...
all plans, even bad ones like genetically modified animals, have new, detrimental conditions to reconcile...Atlantic fish have more than many, at present...
this is the ADH world, now...
This earth is sacred ground.
Is there ever going to be an end to all of this before it kills us?
The problem is that the people who come up with this stuff are so focused on money and how much of it they can hoard that they have lost touch with reality and the connectedness, sacredness of all life. The only way to make more money than you need is to somehow isolate a piece of nature and then patent it and sell it to the next ignorant person.
What gets me the most is how every one of these companies puts out propaganda trying to sell the idea that they are doing all of this for our own good and that we will be so much better off for it and not to worry because they have everything under control. (just like BP.) If that were true, we would all be standing in line for it and they wouldn’t have to pass so many laws making it illegal for people to know the truth.
I started a tiny vegetable garden this year. It’s the one place on this earth I can go to and have 100% control over what I eat. It’s sacred ground. Next year I plan to have even more sacred ground! Today my back yard, tomorrow the world – it has to start somewhere!
excellent! garden, yes...
Right on, shasta.
Here in Alaska on the radio are advertisements telling people to watch out for odd looking salmon, and that a fish farm had an escape from British Columbia. This is Atlantic salmon being farmed in the pacific. This is the 3rd year these ads have been running, sponsored by the Dept. of Fish & Game, who want you to bring the abominations back to them.
Its totally wrong, especially as Wild Salmon are on their last limb anyway, between overfishing, mismanagement, Corporate profits and pollution (Mining in Bristol Bay), and of course, genetic contamination.
The people of this land have forgotten that salmon used to be the backbone food source. People now think they depend more on the import of processed factory "food".
That fish will never pass these lips.
Another ecological disaster in the making.
We humans need to stick to what we do best - destroying each other - and quit fucking with other plant and animal species!
Maybe they could design a fish feeding on the BP oil shit.
I always wonder how these psychopaths live. They certainly make a killing.
Hey, maybe Monsanto could design a killer gene for psychopaths? Self-destruction for psychopaths!
You don't like Genetic modified foods, well do you like to eat. The age of surplus food is rapidly ending. The world population is expected to grow from the current level of 6 billion to 9-10 billion by 2050 if current growth rates continue. The US is expected to grow from 300 million to 400 million in the same time period. in 2007 there was only one month's carry over of wheat worldwide. Rice, the food that is used by most overseas food aid projects, is now in short supply and they have had to switch to lentils to meet the need for food in poor countries.
Climate change is increasing the severity of droughts, floods and storms, as well as increasing the variability of the rainy season start and finish dates. If you are not a farmer you should know that it makes it very difficult to produce a crop. A 13 year drought in Australia's major breadbasket area has put many of their famers out of business and they exported a lot of food. In the US Missouri is reporting their wheat harvest will be down to only 1/3 of normal because of the unusual rain patterns this year. Have you followed the news of those down pours of 8-10 inches in 12 hours, such as the flood in Arkansas that swept away and killed all those campers. Those deluges are now a common occurrence in those mid west states from Arkansas to Oklahoma, Tennessee(the 500 year flood they just had) to Missouri. All part of the US breadbasket. The flooding hits the river valleys, in those states the most productive farmland they have.
Or how about the warming, Do you know what a week of 100 degree heat does to a corn crop. Try extending that to two week three weeks or a month as climate change will bring.
Genetic modification is going to be the only way we can meet the food challenge. That fast growing fish will provide protein. GM Wheat, the goal is to produce heat and drought tolerant strain by genetic manipulation. Or GM corn that can be grown without fertilizers and also more tolerant to heat.
The doors are rapidly closing on our choices. Climates are changing and we are going to increase by billions, number of mouths that we have to feed. Bon apetite. Heres to GM food.
I agree that our food supply is compromised and we are in deep doo doo. But I don't believe that GM food is the solution.
We need to change our life style to reduce the effects of global warming. We need to return to sustainable farming methods. We need to develop and maintain local farming and food sources. We need to respect our environment and our food supply.
GM might seem like a handy solution. But I don't know that the food being produced by this method is safe. As a friend of mine working at a fish farm said of their "product": "I wouldn't eat it". The easiest solution is not always the best solution.
That is not true. There is plenty of food, it is economics that cause starvation. Genetically modified food is an attempt to control the food that nature provides without condition.
Glad to see you understand the issues with change in climate. Sorry to see you're drinking the cool aid on GM.
Frankenfoods are going to solve the issue of the human affect on climate change. You see, the tests that have published, regarding the affects of generically modified foods, are indicating that among other things, they (specifically soy which, as soy lecithin, is eaten by anyone who eats non-organic or processed foods) inhibits reproductive capabilities over generations. Don't worry, it's a slow process. It won't kick in until your grandchildren begin attempting reproduction. The growth in infertility specialist's practices seems to have been missed on your radar. If you want to counsel your college bound children on a potentially lucrative profession, infertility will be the best choice.
Climate changes will be solved because the future will unfold with less people, less need for oil, less need for food, less need for land (since it will be mostly depleted and sterile from chemical farming anyway) and, in the end, it all won't matter.
Note: One of the other genetic disorders caused by being fed genetically modified soy is hair growing in the soft tissue of the mouth. That one will solve the obesity issue, I'm sure.
And they can't understand why obesity is epidemic.
I just cooked up two fresh Copper River red salmon steaks and am savoring every bite, realizing that this may be the last year they'll be petrol and/or weird-gene free. Who knows how far and wide the oil geyser and/or the genetically altered fish will travel. My heart is sickened when I think of the folks in the gulf. Between the alteration of natural systems and the outright poisoning of the planet, the corporate mentality is about to kill us all for the sake of the almighty dollar. The love of money really is the root of all evil. Corporations like Monsanto, AquaBounty, and BP tell us their products and processes are innoxious, but common sense and experience scream otherwise. We could feed, clothe, and house the planet's inhabitants, without killing the planet itself if we used our brains instead of our pocket books, but those with the gold, rule, so I guess the rest of us can just kiss Mother Earth "good-buy."
It's bad enough that the FDA allows chemical preservatives,pesticides, MSG, growth hormones, etc in our food supply--now this shit too?
The FDA sux!
I'm not sure or knowledgeable about genetically modified animals although the restrictions and privileges granted Monsanto on crop naturalization by our corporate courts are appalling. I do know that wild trout have more flavor than farm raised trout. It may well be that GM fish are safe to eat but will anyone want to? It is also proven that wild fish are healthier than penned fish living in their own excrement. Sorry farmed fish are cat food.
So...another item gone FUBAR? When, oh when, are we going to learn to leave nature alone? What good is all the money if the food, air and water are poisoning us.
There are 6,500,000,000+ people on this planet. This number grows every day. When reality clashes with idealism, reality wins every time. GM foodstuffs are going to become more and more necessary as the population becomes bigger. Or, Maybe everyone can start a little garden.
Here's a little secret. we have been eating GM food for thousands of years. Genetically Modified through selective breeding and cross Pollination. Apparently it's ok to do it this way, but try and do it in a petri dish and it's EVIL.
God forbid anyone try and make money doing it. Why that makes it even more EVIL! These scientists and businessmen are obviously trying to take over the world by giving people full bellies. Dastardly! Shame on them!
That was as dastardly as BP's plan to hurt it's customers by recklessly pouring crude oil into the gulf of mexico. I'm absolutely sure that the actual company that owned and operated the rig or the government officials that were supposed to throughly inspect the rig and did not, have no responsibility in this whatsoever. I'm also sure this is exactly what BP was hoping for. Bad press and a 20 billion dollar fine. Mmmm, sign me up for that!