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New Report Refutes Industry Argument that Genetically Modified Salmon will Feed Hungry World Populations
Brussels - Food & Water Europe released a report today outlining why the genetically engineered (GE) salmon currently being considered by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval as a human food will not alleviate global hunger.
GE Salmon Will Not Feed the World outlines several reasons why this transgenic fish is likely to be more expensive to produce than perceived, as well as problematic for the environment, fishing communities and consumers. The report was released a day after Scottish MP Rob Gibson motioned to petition the Scottish Government to monitor the FDA's approval process, noting that escapees are likely to occur through time and could easily reach the shores of Scotland, "altering forever the genetic integrity of wild Atlantic salmon and of quality Scottish farmed salmon."
"The company producing this experimental fish, AquaBounty, is the only one who will be profiting from it, despite misleading claims that this product could be a means to feed growing populations around the world," said Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Europe.
Since GE salmon can require large amounts of food, display deformities and likely have higher oxygen demands, they can be costly to produce. These projected costs, combined with the various potential human health and ecological concerns associated with GE fish, will not likely add up to a more financially advantageous product for growers or consumers.
Furthermore, farmed salmon in general may not be as nutritious or safe as wild salmon. They contain on average 35 percent fewer omega-3 fatty acids - which are important for human health, but not produced by the body. Also, farmed salmon often contain higher levels of contaminants in their fat (which they can have more of than wild salmon), including 10 times the amount of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). GE salmon are also known to have higher levels of insulin-like growth factor 1, which has been associated with increased risk of certain types of cancer.
These worrying food safety issues are compounded by the environmental damage GE salmon would add to the already unsustainable salmon farming industry. The small, wild fish used in salmon feed are a major food source for marine mammals, birds and larger fish as well as low-income, food insecure populations around the world. In 2006, the aquaculture sector alone consumed nearly 90 percent of small prey fish captured worldwide. GE salmon may require about five times the amount of feed as a non-altered salmon to grow faster. This will further exacerbate the decline of available wild fish for marine wildlife and people in countries that need it most. If fish are not used in feed, it is entirely likely that the fish would be fed on industrial soya-which is associated with serious environmental and human rights impacts as well. Escapes of GE salmon into the wild could also threaten wild salmon, by competing for food, habitat and mates.
"GE salmon is an inefficient way to produce food that comes with more costs than benefits," says Hauter. "We should be concerned about protecting consumers and our wild fish populations rather than pushing forward to approve this potentially dangerous product."
Read the report - http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/world/europe/factsheets/ge-salmon-will-not-feed-the-world-europe/
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21 Comments so far
Show Allwell knock me down with a feather..........who'd have believed it?
It was never meant to feed the world (most of which doesn't have the money to buy the fish anyway). It was meant to help make Mercedes payments for board members of AquaBounty.
Have you ever eaten farmed salmon? It's garbage, and that's without the gene tweaking.
That's usually what the chain restaurants serve as well as super-markets.
Offal of processed farm-raised fish is fed back to the next crop. Not quite as bad as bovine offal made into cattle feed (hence prions/mad cow) but the flesh isn't as good as wild caught. Shrimp is pretty much farmed, also.
Unless the genetic tweaking eliminates toxins, mercury and otherwise, I'll pass.
I have, and I agree with you, Steve Woodward. Moreover, I heard from an opthomologist about a (limited) study done in France that revealed farmed fish to be damaging to the retinas of the eyes on the long run.
"Since GE salmon can require large amounts of food, display deformities and likely have higher oxygen demands, they can be costly to produce."
"They contain on average 35 percent fewer omega-3 fatty acids... Also, farmed salmon often contain higher levels of contaminants in their fat... including 10 times the amount of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)."
What's not to like then? A cynic might say that this represents a colossal con of the public. But I am absolutely certain that our white-coated experts can tweak a few details and arrive at a product far superior to the bloody rubbish that currently infests our oceans, thanks to 3 billion years of evolution tragically unassisted by human engineering and know-how.
Why not?
The USA (a partially-owned subsidiary of Monsanto Inc.) already grows huge amounts of GM corn, soybeans, canola and other wonderful frankenfoods. Monsanto said it would help feed the world, reduce pesticides and they were allowed to own the genetic codes and prosecute anyone who'se crops were contaminated by their proprietary DNA.
Of course, pesticide use has increased, contamination has increased and the damage wrought by GMOs appears irreversible. But it's still good for business.
The technological wonders of neo-lib capitalism never cease to save our world. Thanks guys, we owe you
Why not use pesticides on farmed salmon? Well guess what…..
http://www.fis.com/fis/worldnews/worldnews.aspmonthyear=&day=27&id=38877&l=e&special=&ndb=1%20target=
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2010/10/20/nb-deltamethrin-approval-fish-farms.html
This website has some startling and extremely disturbing information about the health implications of GM food:
http://www.responsibletechnology.org/gmo-dangers
Former Congressman Toby Moffett is a member of the Monsanto crowd and he has spent a lot of his time attacking Ralph Nader. Let him eat that new Salmon.
AquaBounty, like Monsanto, is a biological rapist.
They have crossed the line now with this one.
Now I have to redraw my line so I can stay comfortable.
The coastal communities have been rendered dependent on imported food and have forgotten the importance of fighting to keep wild salmon in existence, which should include destroying all farmed & GM salmon, not "liberating" them.
Twenty years ago when "farmed" fish were just being introduced into the North Coast of Maine, there was still a natural run of Atlantic Salmon in our rivers. Now, though, with the diseases these caged fish brought in because they're crowded into pens just like chickens in cages, there are no more wild Atlantic Salmon in these parts.
Sometimes the caged-fish corporate owners let thousands escape into the ocean because the market isn't good at that moment, so they're all that's out here for "salmon."
They're fed antibiotics, pharmaceuticals, and fake coloring to make them look something like the real thing.
Alaska is the only coastal state that has banned caged fish "farms," so they still have a healthy population of Sockeye Salmon. That's what to buy, when you can get it.
Pesticides are routinely poured into the ocean waters on top of the cages to kill parasites on the salmon, which would be gotten rid of if the salmon could swim to cooler waters, but they're trapped.
The whole business is disgusting. They destroy the wild Atlantic Salmon, poison local coastal waters, deplete the seas of people-edible fish to feed the fake salmon, and fill them with chemicals which will make people sick. And people wonder why there's so much cancer and diabetes.............
So, um.... AquaBounty:
When are you going to develop those GE people that will actually be able to eat the GE salmon?
Well, since the geo-engineering power brokers are spraying Chemtrails all over the world. GMO crops and food will be the only thing that can resist the heavy toxic metals in the soil? Hmmm, follow the money and many horrible secrets are revealed.
GE salmon will feed the world when Jesus returns and divvies them up.
The world's poor and starving will be saved by eating GE Salmon? I am surprised anyone could say that and keep a straight face.
One might as well tell them to eat cake.
Well said!
It's no surprise that this salmon won't feed the world.
But in spite of what the anti-science, technophobes on this site think, it has nothing to do with GE technology or farming methods:
It has to do with the fact that humans simply will not stop reproducing. We are in deep overshoot, and we are headed for collapse.
Agriculture of any kind is unsustainable--patently unsustainable. We embarked on this course approximately 10,000 years ago with the advent of agriculture.
GMOs, fish farming, etc., are just the latest--and last--gasp of the human juggernaut.
Like any species, we will outstrip our resources, defile our environment, then dieback to sustainable numbers again.
No, not extinction--just several decades of living hell.
Enjoy your GE salmon while you can!
The hidden benefit of ingesting this crap, may likely be the thinning out of the worlds population.
Aqua Buddha will not be pleased with AquaBounty for messing with his creations.!