FDA Approves "Frankenfish" as Food

The FDA just approved the nation’s first genetically engineered animal: A salmon that grows twice as fast

 A genetically modified salmon, rear, 

and a non-genetically modified salmon, foreground

After years of review and endless controversy, the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved the nation's first genetically altered animal -- a salmon engineered to grow twice as fast as its natural counterpart.

AquAdvantage, produced by Massachusetts-based AquaBounty, is an Atlantic salmon that contains a growth hormone from a Chinook salmon and has been given a gene from the ocean pout, an eel-like fish. The result is a fish that is large enough for consumption in about a year and a half, rather than the typical three years.

Ocean Pout

Of course, more food faster and easier doesn't sit well with some people.

Food-safety activists, environmental groups and the salmon fishing industry, not to mention lawmakers from Alaska, have long opposed the approval of the fish -- which they derisively refer to as "Frankenfish" -- and have argued that its existence could open the door to a broad range of potentially unsafe genetically modified animal foods. Knowing an FDA approval was likely, critics have in recent years won commitments from some of the nation's most recognizable chains — including Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and Target — to not sell the fish.

Target sells fish? But I thought "food-safety activists" and "environmental" groups would welcome a science based decision. Foolish me.

The FDA said Thursday that its decision was "based on sound science and a comprehensive review," and that regulators are confident that the genetically altered fish is as safe to eat as a normal Atlantic salmon, with no discernible difference in its nutritional value. Officials noted that the agency held meetings, combed through thousands of public comments and conducted scientific and environmental assessments about the AquaBounty fish before finally approving it.

We should be so lucky as to accidentally create a super race of salmon.

Salmon fishermen and environmental activists have raised concerns about the havoc that could occur if any of AquaBounty's engineered salmon made it into ocean waters and mated with wild Atlantic salmon -- a scenario they say could have unpredictable impacts and lead to the decimation of wild populations. AquaBounty has said its fish are all female and sterile, making it impossible for them to breed with other salmon, even if they somehow were to escape their land-locked production facilities. The company argues its fish actually could reduce pressure on wild fish stocks and prevent the overfishing of Atlantic salmon.

"Food-safety activists" and "environmentalists" aren't really interested in reducing overfishing of wild stocks. It's not that they love food safety or the environment, it's they hate humanity.

The FDA said Thursday it will require the AquaBounty salmon to be raised only in land-based, contained tanks in two specific facilities in Canada and Panama, and that it will conduct regular inspections. The approval also doesn't allow the salmon to be bred or raised in the United States for now, though FDA officials said the company could apply to have other production sites approved in the future.

Raising salmon in Panama? That seems odd.