The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is holding a hearing today to allow its medical advisers to assess any potential hazard from a proposed genetically modified Atlantic salmon. AquaAdvantage, which put in an application with the FDA more than 10 years ago to allow its altered salmon to be commercially farmed and sold to consumers, contends that its GMO salmon is identical in every way to wild and conventionally farmed salmon.
The altered salmon have growth hormones from Pacific Chinook salmon and from ocean pout injected into the fertilized eggs of farmed Atlantic salmon. The combined DNA creates a fish that grows to market size in 12-18 months versus the 30 months it takes for natural fish. The pout genes also allow the salmon to be farmed in colder waters and therefore extend the growing season.
Scientists and environmental groups have raised several concerns about the genetically modified salmon. There has been very little testing done on the altered salmon to prove its safety for consumption. AquaAdvantage has provided the FDA with several funded studies showing safety, but there has been to date no independent testing.
Another major concern exists over the environmental damage the salmon can inflict if they escape into the wild. With all pen-farmed fish, there is a percentage that escapes. These unnaturally large fish will compete with dwindling wild salmon stocks for food and will win due to their size and their eating requirements. Although AquaAdvantage claims the fish are sterile, the FDA has already concluded that 5 percent of the eggs may be fertile and therefore the GMO salmon could breed with wild populations and degrade the wild stocks further.
The FDA has approved several genetically-modified vegetables and grains for public consumption, including sugar beets, corn, and soy beans, but this will be the first animal approved. Commercially raised meat chickens also grow unnaturally large in a short period of time, but that growth is due to selection and hybridization, not genetic alteration.
If the FDA does allow genetically-modified salmon to enter the food chain, it opens the floodgate for other genetic modifications on other livestock, such as pigs, cows, and chickens. As farmers look for ways to stay afloat, a shortening of time to market weights means potentially less food consumed by the animals and a quicker turnover. As farm incomes drop, the only way to survive will be to produce artificially grown crops and animals whose trademarks are protected. Several social justice and environmental groups have expressed concerns that the food system is now in the purview of biotechnology companies, like Monsanto, rather than the farmers who grow the food.
The FDA's final decision on the application by AquaAdvantage to allow its genetically-modified salmon to be commercially available is expected in the next few weeks. If the plan gets a green light, it could alter the way the world produces food forever.
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