Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Where to draw the line with genetic modification






"Fish or frankenfish?" reads the headline. 
Seeming to be the source of a lot of controversial debate, a company in Massachusetts is seeking FDA clearance to sell a genetically engineered Atlantic salmon. Aquabounty modified the DNA of a 'normal' salmon to cause it to grow twice as fast. The company "added a growth hormone from a Chinook salmon that allows the fish to produce their growth hormone all year long... Conventional salmon produce the growth hormone only some of the time. The engineers were able to keep the hormone active by using another gene from an eel-like fish that acts like an on switch for the hormone.."
The fish has been bioengineered to increase yield and productivity. 
There are a few issues with these actions.
1) Health safety: What possible issues could arise from the eating of a genetically modified (not naturally found) salmon? The effects have not been extensively tested in humans. The FDA have not officially addressed the request but have made statements in the effect that they seem to think that it is safe. 
2) Ethics: These fish are not the way "God intended", or created them. After fish, what to modify next? If you connect the dots, this will lead to other animals and possibly humans.
3) Unnatural advantage: These fish are larger and could possibly have an advantage over the rest of the natural, wild salmon. What if they outcompete them? Is it still survival of the fittest in that case?

Why this effects me:
I am mostly a "pescatarian". I try to stay away from red meat, and my diet consists of mostly fish and fruits/vegetables. This is a very interesting article because it has the potential of dramatically lowering the price of fish by making it more sustainable and higher yielding. At the same time, I am not sure how I feel about eating a genetically modified animal. I suppose that in the end, the fish is responding naturally to genes and inducing a [natural] response, even though the signal should not have been there in the first place. At this point, we will have to wait and see what the FDA says and, if approved, what the reactions to the product will be.
It is also an exciting time from a bioengineering viewpoint that such a debate is even brought up in the first place.
The article is below:
Sources: 
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39265727/ns/us_news-environment/
http://www.fda.gov/AdvisoryCommittees/CommitteesMeetingMaterials/VeterinaryMedicineAdvisoryCommittee/ucm222635.htm

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