10 February 2009

Something Fishy Here

Genetically modified fish, anyone?
The advantage Aqua Bounty's fish offers fish farmers is the speed with which it grows. It normally takes about three years to raise Atlantic salmon on a fish farm, but with the addition of a couple of genes from the cold-water Chinook salmon, Aqua Bounty's fish grow twice as fast. The breeder is hoping to sell its eggs and smolts to other fish farms in North America.

The main concern with genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is that they could escape into the wild and breed with wild populations. Stotish said that's why Aqua Bounty will only sell sterile salmon, and only females.

Murphy's Law says "If something can go wrong, it will". Aqua Bounty's fish could escape and breed with wild populations, but they don't say exactly what the outcome of that may be.

Fish farms have already proven disastrous to free fish yet we continue experimenting. None of these things can be undone.

The audacity with which humans will go to generate profit leave me reeling.

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