or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Genetically Modified Salmon
Earlier this week I posted a link to a story regarding the AquAdvantage genetically modified salmon. In the days since, I have become fascinated by this concept. I have consumed dozens of articles on the topic and several related topics. I have also read the companies literature on the topic and reviewed the data they sent to the FDA. I have come to a very specific conclusion on this issue. Everyone needs to take a deep breathe and look at the big picture.
The AquAdvantage Salmon is for all intensive purposes an Atlantic Salmon. As you might recall from a previous post on salmon, all commercial Atlantic Salmon is farm raised since it was fished to near extinction in the Atlantic. The AquAdvatage Salmon has two major differences. They introduced the growth hormone of the much larger Coho Salmon and a cool water tolerance gene found in the eelpout. These modifications allow the salmon to grow to market size in half the time.
Read the full post at Foodie Knowledge
Ellen
Sep 17, 2010 @ 19:26:17
Thanks for the only sensible thing I’ve seen written about this. Can we please talk about the over-fished seas as well? UN says oceans on verge collapse — virtual extinction by 2050. If we want to eat fish it has to come from somewhere. I’ll take a salmon with a different salmon gene inserted any day over the extinction of the oceans.
tipsfortips
Sep 17, 2010 @ 19:34:09
Agreed, my first priority is the survival of the wild species. Reducing the competition for fish stocks and the waste generated by these pens will do a great deal to help revive the wild stocks that are remaining in British Columbia. This is not only true for salmon, but for all fish competing for food in this area.
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Nov 07, 2010 @ 01:39:14