Eat or not transgenic salmon?
The FDA maintains doubts about the safety of using the transgenic salmon as food for humans and the approval of AquAdvantage Salmon (AAS) developed by Aqua Bounty Technologies Inc. will have to wait for it to resolve some of the issues have not yet been clarified with the data presented by the company.
Apparently there is insufficient data to ensure that these fish eat does not cause risks to human health and the environment. So when in doubt of the administration over whether the salmon is fit for consumption has so far blocked the possible approval, if necessary, will they know consumers are buying this type of food?.
The labeling issue is critical because the salmon subject to approval by the FDA will be followed by other regular food animals and susceptible to genetic engineering as beef, pork and other fish.
The first transgenic animal approved for consumption could be salmon:
The transgenic salmon created by the company Aqua Bounty Technologies, could be approved for U.S. consumption. After ten years pursuing the adoption of this salmon by the Food and Drug Administration ( FDA)The biotechnology company has succeeded now present almost all the missing data for approval, and the first meeting with management will take place after the summer.
This salmon, known as AquAdvantage, Has two foreign genes, one encodes a growth hormone present in a species nearby giant, chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), While the other gene is a genetic switch from smallpox. The gene for growth hormone is blocked at low temperatures, but thanks to the genetic switch is allowed to run in the natural habitat of the animal. The result is a salmon that grows twice as fast( years and a half instead of three years), but the size attained does not exceed by variety non-GM.
One of the dilemmas they will face FDA in the event approval is the convenience of label or not the food employing these salmon as a product transgenic. According to regulations American, labeling and GM is only required if your content or nutritional properties are different from the product natural, and in this case is not so, since it is identical in taste, color, texture and nutritional properties that their relatives natural.
Another source of controversy arises from the problem that would result these animals in environment: to grow at twice the speed normal, transgenic animals could compete with salmon non-GM and displace them from their habitats. In this sense, the company claims that females transgenic are sterile. This is a double-edged sword : on one hand avoid risks if end up any of these individuals in the open sea, while the company keeps the farms rearing their own salmon modified increasingly required to buy new items to the company.
