Genetically Engineered Salmon's Empty Promises

It's not going to feed more people, be cheaper, or cleaner. So what's it about? A power grab.

Dees Illustration

Paul Greenberg
Gilt Taste

For those who follow the theater of food politics, particularly the underwater portion of the drama, AquaBounty's AquAdvantage genetically engineered salmon has played something of leading role for two decades, dating back to the 1990s when the fish was first conceived. The AquAdvantage salmon, in case you haven't heard about it, is an Atlantic salmon with a (much larger) Chinook salmon growth gene inserted into its DNA. This is coupled with a promoter from a third fish, an ocean pout, that keeps that growth gene more or less permanently in the "on" position. This makes for a fish that grows faster than an unmodified salmon—something which its creators hail as a key to providing more fish for the world and easing the crisis in over-fishing.

I have long opposed the AquAdvantage salmon, taking pretty familiar positions that any member of the local/organic/wild food community would recognize: Positions that include the fear that the fish will escape and contaminate wild populations of salmon, and that the fish requires much wasteful transport since it would be cloned in Canada, grown in Panama and then flown back to the U.S. for consumption. But at a recent lecture when I was laying out these old chestnuts, it suddenly occurred to me that the non-fishy public might be missing one monumental fact about the AquAdvantage salmon, with all its attendant risks:

It is completely unnecessary.

Genetically engineered salmon, if approved by FDA, could destroy the salmon industry

Mike Adams

Natural News 

As the world awaits the FDA's decision on whether to approve genetically modified salmon as "safe enough" to allow into the food supply, it seems that not enough people in the existing fishing industries have really thought this through. As you'll see here, approval of GE salmon could destroy the existing salmon industry. Why? Here's the reason:

The FDA says that once it approves GE salmon (which now seems likely), it will not require GE salmon to be labeled as "genetically modified" or "genetically engineered." In fact, the FDA ridiculously claims it would be illegal to require these GE fish to be labeled as such because they are, in the minds of the FDA, no different from regular fish.

Now here's why this matters: If consumers are not told which salmon is GE, many will avoid buying ALL salmon. 

In fact, organizations like NaturalNews and many others like the Organic Consumers Association would likely take strong action, warning people to avoid all salmon because you never know which salmon is genetically modified. 

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GE Salmon? Are you out of your minds?

Jeffrey M. Smith
Natural News

Has the FDA gone completely mad? Why are they trying to open the flood gates to genetically engineered (GE) salmon -- a move that will go down in history as one of the most asinine and dangerous ever made by our government? What’s it going to take for them to actually start protecting public health?


The FDA is reviewing data submitted by AquaBounty, the company that spliced a growth hormone gene into Atlantic salmon, forcing it to grow up to five times faster and reach market size in about 18 months instead of 3 years. But according to the evidence, their buff salmon might have higher levels of a cancer promoting hormone IGF-1, more antibiotics, and more of a potentially life-threatening allergen(s).

The FDA failed to learn their lesson with their idiotic approval of genetically engineered bovine growth hormone. It also has higher levels of IGF-1 and more antibiotics. Now it’s condemned by the American Public Health Association and the American Nurses Association, banned in most other countries, and has been banished by most US dairies. Even Wal-Mart won’t allow the stuff into their milk.

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