Friday, September 10, 2010

Is Genetically Modified Salmon Safe?


LINK
If all goes as expected, genetically modified salmon will soon arrive on our dinner plates.
Armed with a gene from the ocean pout -- another kind of fish -- the new salmon, which originally hails from the Atlantic, grows twice as fast as its less endowed peers out at sea.
The Food and Drug Administration has concluded that the new salmon is safe to eat and safe for the environment, suggesting that approval is likely at a hearing planned for later this month. The decision would make the fish the first genetically modified animal allowed for human consumption...

All species of wild Atlantic salmon are listed as endangered. Adding any type of new threat could throw them over the edge. Often, Hutchings added, genes that are inserted for one purpose have other unintended and unpredictable effects.

"It's fairly difficult to make precise predictions about what would happen if interbreeding took place between GMO and wild salmon," Hutchings said. "But almost certainly the consequences would not be positive for the wild salmon, particularly given their poor conservation status."


When Sea lice problem are still hanging in the air. Someone try to throw in another risky factor... sigh... : (
No farmed salmon please! Eat wild salmon!

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