GM salmon that grows twice normal rate set to get approval for eating

GM salmon that grows twice normal rate set to get approval for eating

Source: mirror

6/28/2010

A monster salmon designed to grow at twice the normal rate is set to become the first genetically modified animal approved for eating.
A monster salmon designed to grow at twice the normal rate is set to become the first genetically modified animal approved for eating.
Food regulators in the States are considering whether the product, called AquAdvantage salmon, is fit to eat and safe for the environment.

They have signed off five of the seven criteria.

The fish contains a growth hormone that would make it ready for sale in 18 months rather than the usual three years. But the fish would need EU approval to make it into British supermarkets.

AquaBounty, the Massachusetts company behind the fish, insists it is safe and is hoping for approval within months. Chief executive Ronald Stotish said the fish would be no bigger than normal, simply grown in half the time. He said: "You don't get salmon the size of the Hindenburg. You get to those target weights in a shorter time."

AquaBounty would sell fish eggs to fish farms. They would be bred sterile to prevent them getting into the wild and breeding with native salmon.

But Peter Melchett, policy director of the Soil Association, said: "Once you have bombarded an animal with other genes, the DNA is unstable, and there is no guarantee these fish will remain sterile.

"It poses far too great a risk to wild salmon.