Ethan A. HuffConsumers may soon have a new “Frankenfood” to contend with as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will soon decide whether or not to approve genetically-modified (GM) salmon as food. If approved, the GM salmon — known as AquAdvantage — will be the first GM animal officially authorized for human consumption in the U.S.
Aqua Bounty Technologies Inc., the company responsible for the new “Frankenfish”, has been seeking approval for it from the FDA since 1995. By programming salmon genes to continuously produce growth hormone, scientists from the company have been able to make their engineered fish grow to full size in less than 250 days, as opposed to the 400 days it takes for a natural Atlantic salmon to grow. This, they say, will improve the fish economy and reduce environmental stress.
The company claims that the fish are sterile, pose no environmental or health threats and taste just like the real thing, but not everyone is convinced. In fact, previous studies have shown just the opposite to be true.
Frankenfish are more likely to breed, then die off
In 1999, researchers from Purdue University found that transgenic fish are more attractive to other fish because of their abnormally large size. So more often than not, they beat out real fish in attracting breeding mates, which can cause serious problems if introduced into the wild.
The same study also found that the offspring of transgenic fish live very short lives. So over time, native fish will eventually become extinct in the presence of even a few transgenic fish. According to the university report, 60 fertile GM fish placed in a population of 60,000 native fish could destroy the entire native stock in as little as 20 years.
Despite claims that this could never occur because the fish are sterile, many experts say that the DNA in GM fish will mutate over time and cause them to be able to breed. They could then spread their DNA to other species, altering the genetic makeup of fish everywhere.
“Once you have bombarded an animal with other genes, the DNA is unstable, and there is no guarantee these fish remain sterile,” explained Lord Melchett, policy director at the Soil Association of the U.K., in a Telegraph article. “It poses far too great a risk to wild salmon.”
There is also no guarantee that the fish will remain in their isolated growing pens. Aqua Bounty insists that the GM salmon will never escape into the wild and thus pose no threat. But once approved, GM salmon will likely start popping up in ocean farm fisheries where the likelihood of escape is very high.
Fish in these farming environments already escape into the wild by the millions every year, so it is more than likely that GM fish will do the exact same thing. And if GM fish begin to escape into the wild, there is no telling the extent to which aquaculture will be permanently altered. And there is no undoing it, either.
“[GM fish] can escape and mingle with the native populations, pass on genetic traits, and their presence will just continue to grow and grow. You can’t reverse it,” explained Joseph Mendelson, legal director for the Center for Food Safety, in a statement.
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