If we think genetically modified grains and oilseeds are a hot topic of contention, it is likely we have seen nothing yet, as the saying goes.
Expect a company most have not yet heard of, to soon be at the eye of a considerable storm of media.
AquaBounty is based out of the United States and they have just cleared a significant hurdle in terms of GMO. They have received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for their genetically modified salmon to be sold for human consumption. It is the first edible genetically engineered animal to earn such an approval.
The company AquaBounty - now owned by Intrexon - claims the salmon grow to market-size twice as fast as other farmed salmon. The salmon are engineered with a growth hormone gene from Chinook salmon and genetic material from ocean pout (an eel-like creature).
So far Canada has not approved the salmon for human consumption, but they have certainly opened the door to it.
Canada’s Minister of the Environment did approve the commercial production of genetically modified (GM) Atlantic salmon eggs and fish in late 2013. The company will produce GM fish eggs in Prince Edward Island (PEI) and ship them to Panama for grow-out and processing.
To start the FDA of course went through a process.
“The FDA scientists rigorously evaluated extensive data submitted by the manufacturer, AquaBounty Technologies, and other peer-reviewed data, to assess whether AquAdvantage salmon met the criteria for approval established by law; namely, safety and effectiveness. The data demonstrated that the inserted genes remained stable over several generations of fish, that food from the GE salmon is safe to eat by humans and animals, that the genetic engineering is safe for the fish, and the salmon meets the sponsor’s claim about faster growth,” detailed a report at www.fda.gov
“In addition, FDA assessed the environmental impacts of approving this application and found that the approval would not have a significant impact on the environment of the United States. That’s because the multiple containment measures the company will use in the land-based facilities in Panama and Canada make it extremely unlikely that the fish could escape and establish themselves in the wild.”
But in an era where people seem to have a dual fear of government and science, and frankly perhaps a third head to the perceived monster being big business, the reaction by many is summed up by their labelling the salmon; ‘Frankenfish’.
And not everyone is so sure all the GMO fish will remain captive.
“There is little doubt that transgenetic fish will, if raised, escape to the surrounding waters. Estimates of farmed salmon escapees in British Columbia total at least 400,000 fish from 1991 to 2001,” detailed www.salmonnation.com. The site cited Barcott, B. (2001), Aquaculture’s Troubled Harvest, Mother Jones, November/December. “According to the Canadian government, in the past decade nearly 400,000 farm-raised Atlantics escaped into British Columbia waters and began competing with wild species for food and habitat. (That number relies primarily on escapes reported by fish farmers; environmentalists put the actual figure closer to one million.)”
Do a quick ‘Net search on the GM salmon and environmentalist groups, consumer groups and others have already started to fill their sites with articles distrusting the salmon, echoing a broader distrust of all things GM.
But on the flip side, a salmon which gains weight more quickly is an economic benefit to the producer. Whether a salmon in an ocean pen, a pig in the barn, or a steer in the feedlot, the quicker it grows to go to market the better for the operation as it frees up space for the next animal.
Feed conversion and growth rate are key factors in the profitability of livestock operations, fish farms included.
And the more efficient a livestock operation can be, the easier to keep food prices at the supermarket lower, and that of course seems an unwritten rule in North America; food must be cheap. There may be consumers who would argue, as a counterpoint, beef today is not cheap, but in world terms it is.
If consumers want low cost food moving forward, and for all the low income earners out there, GM is a tool to ensuring that, but that gets lost in the debate fuelled often by those with deeper pockets, allowing them to be activists in the debate.
Calvin Daniels is Assistant Editor with Yorkton This Week.
