FDA inspects salmon that grows year round
Ryan McCullough
Genetically engineered salmon could soon be common place on grocery store shelves and on dinner plates across America.The Food and Drug Administration recently evaluated a product titled Aquadvantage Salmon, produced by Aqua Bounty Technologies.
ABT used genes from chinook salmon to produce Atlantic salmon that grow substantially faster.
“Apparently normal salmon doesn’t grow well during the winter time. So, they’ve engineered some gene from the chinook salmon so that it will grow year round,” said Peter Brown, life science instructor at MCC.
The FDA has not approved the fish. If approved, the fish in stores will not be labeled as genetically engineered
“The United States has decided that because essentially the food is the same as non-genetically engineered food,” Brown said.
Richard Raush, a fisheries biologist, though he has not studied the Aquadvantage Dalmon, does not imagine any risk.
“I don’t really see any reason why putting a chinook salmon gene into Atlantic salmon, to enhance the growth of the latter, why it would cause any additional risk,” Raush said.
Brown stated it was not a health concern.
“It’s really a social and political issue rather than a scientific issue,” Brown said.
So far, the FDA has found no appreciable difference between Aquadvantage Salmon and Atlantic salmon. It is unknown when the FDA will make a decision.
