We warned you in 2013 about GMO rDNA salmon audio interview.
UPDATE
We warned you in 2013 about GMO rDNA salmon. Audio interview. The FDA has now approved gmo/bioengineered salmon for sale in the United States. Aquabounty and related entities were sued by non-profit organizations to stop the sale of the unusual salmon. After corrections were made to address environmental concerns, such as 1) gmo salmon “will not” commingle with wild salmon and 2) the females are given three chromosomes (?) so they will be sterile after they are somehow grown from gmo eggs in Prince Edward Island. They are raised in a fish farm in Indiana until ready for harvest.
None of this addresses the effect on humans from consuming altered DNA fish developed in a lab. The fish contain anti-freeze genes from the Ocean Pout as well as a growth hormone from the Chinook as outlined in the interview below. They contain three chromosomes through gynogenesis, where females are desexualized and male DNA is silenced. This is done through shock treatment at the PEI facility. This method protects the technology from being used by others (trade secret) and prevents the fish from randomly breeding with other wild fish, although these are basically unisex fish that are changed on an evolutionary level.
The effects of this alteration of alleles to a unisex new salmon on humans when the fish is consumed is unknown. This salmon is altered such that the FDA said it should be in “FDA’s Electronic Animal Drug Registration and Listing System”, as a food drug. Aquabounty is supposed to police itself and report any adverse genetic changes and any changes in mortality or morbidity.
There is no third party requirement for testing. In fact, there doesn’t seem to be any testing on humans who consume the salmon during the entire 30 year period Aquabounty has sought approval. (There is a blog link from Aquabounty that claims ALL gmos are allergy tested, but no data is provided on this specific fish.) The rDNA to make all of these changes is the same recombinant technology used in Brazilian cane sugar, vaccines and roughly 80 other foods. These foods are either on the market or will shortly be released in ADVANCE of the pushed back bioengineered label requirement, now slated for 2022. Currently, a food you are consuming could be bioengineered and you would not know it.
That’s why we are covering one bioengineered food each week.
From the Food And Travel Nation Interview Archives: Elizabeth Dougherty spoke with Jaydee Hanson, the Senior Policy Analyst for The Center for Food Safety about the proposal in front of the FDA that would allow genetically modified salmon to be produced and sold in the United States. As you’ll hear, the public spoke out against the proposal en masse, but barring a major reversal in government policy, look for this salmon to be on the market shortly. While there is pending legislation that would require specific labeling of this particular salmon, unless it is labeled appropriately, you won’t even know you’re eating it. Now you know why we warned you in 2013 about GMO rDNA salmon. Audio interview.
Here’s what he had to say:
From The Center for Food Safety’s website: Jaydee Hanson works as a policy analyst for the Center for Food Safety on issues related to nanotechnology, animal cloning and animal genetic engineering. He also works for the Center’s sister agency, the International Center for Technology Assessment (ICTA) where he directs their work on human genetics, synthetic biology and nanotechnology. He is the US co-chair for the Nanotechnology Taskforce of the Transatlantic Consumers Dialogue and a fellow of the Institute on Biotechnology and the Human Future.
