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Title: More Good News!: Clarified: What does "genetically modified" salmon mean?
Source:
CNN
URL Source: http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2010/09/20 ... ically-modified-salmon/?hpt=C1
Published: Sep 20, 2010
Author: staff
Post Date: 2010-09-20 20:54:45 by buckeroo
Keywords: None
Views: 194
Comments: 12
Photo: AquAdvantage® Salmon in the background; a non-GMO Atlantic salmon of the same age in the foreground. The United States' Food and Drug Administration is in the midst of public hearings to determine if it will approve AquaBounty Technologies' application for fish spawned from genetically engineered salmon eggs to be allowed for use as food. These "AquAdvantage® Salmon" grow into full-sized fish in half the time that it would take a regular salmon, and if approved, would become the first "transgenic" or genetically engineered animals to be approved for human consumption. It's a deeply fraught issue for both fans and foes of the technology, but stripping politics and propriety aside, here's what "genetically modified" actually means in the context of fish farming. Genetic engineering entails introducing desirable traits of one living being into another, using recombinant DNA , or rDNA technology. DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is made up of two strands of nucleotides, twisted around each other in a double helix at the nucleus of a cell. The order of the nucleotides determines hereditary characteristics. More succinctly, it's genes. Before now, genetic engineering has been used widely in agriculture to make crops resistant to pests and herbicides, in the development of microbes to produce pharmaceuticals for human and animal use, and in food to produce microorganisms used in baking, brewing and cheesemaking. While various organizations have been working to develop genetically modified animals, such as the University of Guelph's "Enviropig" - which more easily digests plant phosphorous, thus excreting less of it into the environment - AquAdvantage® Salmon would be the first to be approved by the FDA for use as food. The fish's rapid growth will be boosted by the injection of a combination of a growth gene (GH-coding sequences) from the Pacific Chinook salmon and genetic material (the AFP gene) from the ocean pout - a large, eel-like fish - into the fertilized eggs of Atlantic salmon, making the recombined DNA present in cells throughout the body of the fish. The Chinook gene promotes the growth to market size, and the pout gene allows the fish to grow in the winter as well as the summer. AquaBounty Technologies claims the resultant fish are reproductively sterile due to another genetic alteration - triploidy - that eliminates the possibility of interbreeding amongst themselves or with other native breeds, while maintaining protection over intellectual property. The company will only sell female eggs and raise the fish within contained, inland systems. However, despite these assurances, the FDA indicates that up to 5% of the eggs may indeed be fertile, and the company's claims in this regard are "potentially misleading." This analysis is entirely new ground for the FDA, and their Veterinary Medicine Advisory Committee is employing the regulations they would to evaluate veterinary pharmaceuticals, rather those used for than food safety. According to Section 5 of the group's overview of this engineered Atlantic salmon, "That rDNA construct meets the definition of a 'drug' under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act" as "an article intended to alter the structure or function of the body of man or animal." Previously - What does "sustainable seafood" mean?
Poster Comment: With SEVEN BILLION people on the planet and climbing, we have to frankenstein our food base in order to achieve a full belly. For those that think, companies just perform R&D for fun.... they want a profit for their R&D.
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#1. To: buckeroo (#0)
I read other articles that cited a Purdue University study that concluded that if some of these fish did escape their pens, then they could easily wipe out the wild salmon population of the whole earth. Because if they breed with other fish it means death of the species. Even the latest statements by the company that wants to grow these salmon say that 5% of the fish will be able to reproduce. your article doesn't mention these things.
Psalms 137:1 By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
1) It isn't my article. 2) It is goodnews to feed the starving masses. 3) Those that think there isn't a food plight are fooling themselves.
"we ought to lay off the criticism" -- Pinguinite, circa 2010-05-26 22:17:22 ET
there are about 35,000 people who starve to death every day. However, they can't afford to buy something expensive like salmon. It won't help them. They eat inexpensive foods like rice, beans, wheat, corn. If you wanted to help them, then try to stop the US government from paying people to destroy these types of foods through ethanol production. A very large portion of all such grains grown in the US today are transformed into ethanol via heavy government subsidies. Otherwise it would not be done as it is not economical. This no doubt causes thousands of people to die every day. Yet it is a non-issue in America.
Psalms 137:1 By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
You/I can't. Ethanol is classified as a renewable energy source. But the bottom line (which you completely FAIL to understand) is the reason why anyone would look into other or alternate sources of energy to begin with. Oil production/development is declining while demands continue to rise.
"we ought to lay off the criticism" -- Pinguinite, circa 2010-05-26 22:17:22 ET
Well, it's not Soylent Green just yet. I'm sure they're working on it. Of course, you find endless amounts of pro-GMO salmon propaganda. Obviously, they've been spreading cash around. The FDA will just rubber-stamp it. It's been 25 years since the FDA actually took measures to protect the lives and health of citizens. Since then, it has become a brothel of special interests, the six agribusiness giants and Big Pharma.
Bingo. We have the winner here.
Nary a one of them were eating any salmon anyway. Let's be honest, salmon is on the plates of the better off, not the starving masses. This "it will feed the world" argument is COMICAL. Wild salmon sells for as much as $40 bucks a pound. The starving masses live on less than a dollar a day.
"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. ... We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of." Edward Bernays, Father of Public Relations
BOVINE EXCREMENT. The starving can't even afford a can of tuna, let alone Frankenfish.
"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. ... We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of." Edward Bernays, Father of Public Relations
and if you read the non-corporate propaganda news articles on this subject, then you know that a Purdue Univ study said that this GM salmon would destroy the entire species worldwide within 20-30 years if some of them escape from their cages. this GM salmon is a product that will end up being expensive and they will end up killing off all of their competition.
Psalms 137:1 By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
Those who have swallowed the apocalyptic propaganda are misinformed and deluded. India is the most densely populated country on the planet. India is a NET food EXPORTER. We do not have a "food problem". We have a political problem. Wherever there are famines and shortages of food it is not because we are unable to produce enough food to feed everybody on the planet it is because of political instability. For example Zimbabwe/Rhodesia: Prior to the rise to power of Robert Mugabe Zimbabwe was one of the largest food exporters in Africa. Zimbabwe now imports food. Without spending a lot of time going through how existing farmers were dispossessed and the farms turned over to people who had no knowledge or desire to be competent farmers the reality is that Zimbabwe has the resources to produce more food than they consume and did so at one time. They can no longer do so and it is solely and only a result of a corrupt government and for no other reason. We have no shortage of food. We have a shortage of sound and honest government.
"One of the least understood strategies of the world revolution now moving rapidly toward its goal is the use of mind control as a major means of obtaining the consent of the people who will be subjects of the New World Order." K.M. Heaton, The National Educator
BOVINE EXCREMENT. The starving can't even afford a can of tuna, let alone Frankenfish. Exactly. Atlantic Salmon is a LUXURY food item not a basic staple.
"One of the least understood strategies of the world revolution now moving rapidly toward its goal is the use of mind control as a major means of obtaining the consent of the people who will be subjects of the New World Order." K.M. Heaton, The National Educator
IF the food were safe and the possibility of these fish affecting wild salmon were nil, then maybe it wouldn't be a luxury item but sold in cans similar to how tuna is sold. It may or may not be a bad thing, but as with any GMO food I'd be leary of its safety and nutrional value.
#2. To: Red Jones (#1)
(Edited)
your article doesn't mention these things.
#3. To: buckeroo (#2)
#4. To: Red Jones (#3)
If you wanted to help them, then try to stop the US government from paying people to destroy these types of foods through ethanol production.
#5. To: buckeroo (#0)
(Edited)
#6. To: TooConservative (#5)
It's been 25 years since the FDA actually took measures to protect the lives and health of citizens. Since then, it has become a brothel of special interests, the six agribusiness giants and Big Pharma.
#7. To: Red Jones, buckeroo (#3)
there are about 35,000 people who starve to death every day
#8. To: buckeroo (#2)
2) It is goodnews to feed the starving masses.
#9. To: abraxas, buckeroo (#7)
#10. To: buckeroo, Red Jones, farmfriend, all (#2)
Those that think there isn't a food plight are fooling themselves.
#11. To: abraxas (#8)
2) It is goodnews to feed the starving masses.
#12. To: Original_Intent, abraxas (#11)
Exactly. Atlantic Salmon is a LUXURY food item not a basic staple.
"The real deal is this: the ‘royalty’ controlling the court, the ones with the power, the ones with the ability to make a difference, with the ability to change our course, the ones who will live in infamy if we pass the tipping points, are the captains of industry, CEOs in fossil fuel companies such as EXXON/Mobil, automobile manufacturers, utilities, all of the leaders who have placed short-term profit above the fate of the planet and the well-being of our children." - James Hansen
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