posted August 05, 2010 06:08 PM
http://archive.greenpeace.org/search.shtml Q: Are genetically engineered (GE) salmon different from wild salmon?
A: Yes. They are fundamentally different from wild or natural species. Genetically engineered salmon contain unnaturally high levels of a growth hormone that would not occur in natural fish. These fish are capable of growing two to three times faster than even farmed salmon grown under the same conditions.
A patent application granted to the company in September 2001 by the European Patent Office reports on experiments leading to fish eight times bigger than normal salmon.
Q: Are there GE fish on the market now?
A: No, but some companies, one called A/F Protein in particular, are planning to bring GE salmon to dinner tables this year. Other types of GE fish also being experimented upon for commercial development include tilapia, trout and carp.
Q: Are GE fish safe to eat?
A: Genetic engineering of fish is an experiment, so right now no one knows for certain whether these fish are safe too eat. The salmon have been genetically engineered to produce a growth hormone naturally found in a different species of fish, in such quantities that it grows two to three times the normal yearly rate. The implications for safety of consumption of the meat has not been investigated.
We do know that the fish's health could be compromised. Studies have shown that the excessive growth rates make growth deformities common, including in the head which can impede the fish's ability to eat.
Poor health of the fish might have downstream impacts on those who eat the fish. This needs further investigation.
Right now The US FDA is currently examining the first commercial application for GE fish. They are looking at it as a “New Animal Drug” rather than as a food product.
Q: Do GE salmon threaten wild salmon populations?
A: Yes. Scientists at Purdue University (in the US) have conducted a study demonstrating how GE fish could lead to the extinction of wild populations if released into open waters. The scientists found that certain GE fish had a mating advantage over wild species due to their unnaturally large size. In addition, their study showed that some GE fish did not produce as many viable offspring as their natural counterparts. This combination forces the population into decline. Using computer modeling, the Purdue scientists showed that it would take only 60 GE fish in a population of 60,000 wild fish to cause species extinction within 40 generations.
Q: But aren't GE fish raised in enclosed ponds?
A: Escapes from fish farms are routine. The majority of farmed Atlantic salmon are raised in shallow waters, or ocean net pens. Escapes from net pens are frequent and virtually impossible to prevent. Approximately 300,000 fish escaped from a single Washington State fish farm in the summer of 1999. Between 1991 and 1999 more than 280,000 fish escaped from fish farms in British Columbia. Even indoor ponds typically recirculate water into the environment, an escape route for fish or eggs..
Q: The company says that the fish will be sterile and so won't be able to
breed with natural fish, so where is the danger?
A: There is no such thing as a 100 percent guarantee of sterility. Sterility of genetically engineered fish is inherently uncertain given the possibility for human error and natural variation. A/F Protein is already talking about having orders for 15 million eggs. Only a handful of these need be fertile to potentially destroy natural populations of wild fish.
Q: How do regulations protect the environment from the risks of GE fish?
A: They don’t. Currently no national or international regulations adequately protect the environment from the risks associated with GE fish. The first application for approval of GE fish anywhere in the world is being considered by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) in the US. This is completely inappropriate since the FDA has no relevant environmental experience and is not an appropriate body to deal with an international issue that affects the world's oceans.
Q: If GE Fish are approved in the US how does this affect other countries?
A: Once released into ocean ponds, fish will escape. Fish do not obey national boundaries so any release of GE fish will be international. The company involved also plans to sell GE fish eggs around the world. The release of GE fish is a matter of international concern in which we all have a stake, and to which every government should have an opportunity to say no.
Q: Don't we need more food from GE fish to feed the growing population?
A: It takes three to five pounds of fish meal and fish oil to produce one pound of farmed salmon (1). So GE salmon farming will actually reduce the amount of fish protein available in the world, not increase it.
Q: What can I do?
A: You can:
1. Join the Greenpeace consumer network in your country. Visit www.greenpeace.org/~geneng
2. Tell the FDA not to approve GE salmon! Contact: Dr. Stephen F. Sundlof, dirctor FDA, email: ssundlof@cvm.fda.gov.
1. Naylor et al, Effect of Aquaculture on World Fish Supplies. Nature, Vol.405, June 29, 2000, pg.1017-1024 and Dr. Rebecca Goldberg, Murky Waters: Environmental Effects of Aquaculture in the United States. Environmental Defense Fund, October 1997.
Frankenfish developers AquabOUNTY
http://www.aquabounty.com/-/
quote:
AquaBounty, which calls its super salmon an "advanced hybrid" rather than a transgenic fish, said they're safe to eat and would be raised in contained farming operations that could be based inland rather than along coastal waters. And the modified fish, all females, would be sterile so that they couldn't breed with wild fish if any escaped, the company said.AquaBounty's fish grow faster but not bigger that normal Atlantic salmon. The company says that genetically modified salmon are identical to regular salmon in every way except for the genes that have been added.
Company researchers have added a growth hormone gene from the Chinook salmon as well as an on-switch gene from the ocean pout, a distant relative of the salmon, to a normal Atlantic salmon's roughly 40,000 genes. Salmon normally feed only during the spring and summer, but when the on-switch from the pout's gene is triggered, they eat year round.
The result is a transgenic salmon that grows to market size in about half the time as a normal salmon — 16 to 18 months, rather than three years.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/07/11/97277/fda-nears-approval-of-genetically.html#ixzz0vlqepr3W]
http://www.salmonnation.com/fish/gefish.html
"Some consumer and environmental groups are likely to raise objections to approval. Even within the F.D.A., there has been a debate about whether the salmon should be labeled as genetically engineered (genetically engineered crops are not labeled).
The salmon’s approval would help open a path for companies and academic scientists developing other genetically engineered animals, like cattle resistant to mad cow disease or pigs that could supply healthier bacon. Next in line behind the salmon for possible approval would probably be the “enviropig,” developed at a Canadian university, which has less phosphorus pollution in its manure."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/26/business/26salmon.html
There are many things that bother me about this- now becoming reality- after 10 or so years of talk.
We have not fixed the problems with farmed fish to begin with, and now we are going to `up` the ante with a stronger and more aggressive fish that eats his own in the same tank? When these fish enter the Eco-system which is what will happen, this will hasten the demise of wild salmon everywhere.
And if this is approved, and it will be. You can forget about the GE label on any food, ever.
~just sayin`
Lindaland
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posted August 05, 2010 06:08 PM
