Deleted User
08-23-2000, 01:28 AM
Here is an excerpt from a news release that Marty M. found:
Giant salmon a scary prospect
Genetic engineering prompts worries about 'Frankenfish'
Les Blumenthal; The News Tribune
WASHINGTON - In New Zealand, researchers using genetic engineering developed a strain of chinook salmon they believed could eventually weigh 550 pounds.
On Canada's Prince Edward Island, "transgenic" Atlantic salmon injected with a protein grow four times faster than ordinary fish.
The "blue revolution" - like the green revolution in biotech agriculture - is on the verge of exploding, and new breeds of salmon could be the first genetically altered animals sold in the local supermarket.
But from the shores of Puget Sound to the California statehouse and from the Alaska governor's office to two streams on Vancouver Island, fishermen, government officials and environmentalists are increasingly wary of what critics are calling "Frankenfish."
And in Washington, D.C., a White House panel is trying to sort out which agency has jurisdiction, with the Food and Drug Administration, the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service all having a possible claim.
"We are very worried," said Glen Spain, Northwest regional director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations. "Once you let the genies out of the bottle, you are at the mercy of the genies."
No one is quite sure what the long-term biological or environmental consequences might be if genetically altered salmon escaped from the fish farms, where they would be raised, and cross-bred or competed with wild, native stocks for food and spawning sites.
Most of the attention has focused on fish farms in New England, where there are fears transgenic fish could mate with Atlantic salmon that might be listed as an endangered species. But there is equal concern on the Pacific Coast.
"It's a hot issue," said Kevin Amos of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Scientists in the United States, Canada, Japan, China, New Zealand and other countries have been manipulating genes in fish for more than a decade, and some of the research is on the verge of commercial development.
A Massachusetts company, A/F Protein Inc., has said it has orders for 15 million eggs from genetically engineered, or transgenic, Atlantic salmon it has been raising on Prince Edward Island. The company has sought FDA approval to start marketing the eggs to fish farms.
The fish can reach market size in 18 months, rather than the 36 months it now takes a typical Atlantic salmon.
The breakthrough came when researchers at A/F Protein, an international biotech firm, discovered an antifreeze protein that allows flounder to survive in cold, arctic water where salmon can't. The protein acts as a switch that allows the Atlantic salmon to produce a growth hormone year-round. Normal salmon produce such a growth hormone only during warm months.
An A/F Protein spokesman was unavailable for comment, but the company's supporters say such transgenic salmon could dramatically expand fish farm operations around the world and relieve the pressure on wild stocks. Already, more than half the salmon sold in the United States are raised in farms.
Elsewhere, scientists in British Columbia and in the United States have been experimenting with such Pacific Coast stocks as the coho.
In New Zealand, a company using genetic engineering was developing what could have been a mammoth chinook, or King salmon, they believed could eventually grow to 550 pounds. Wild chinook have been caught weighing 100 pounds or so. .......
Thoughts anyone?
[This message has been edited by RT (edited 08-23-2000).]
Giant salmon a scary prospect
Genetic engineering prompts worries about 'Frankenfish'
Les Blumenthal; The News Tribune
WASHINGTON - In New Zealand, researchers using genetic engineering developed a strain of chinook salmon they believed could eventually weigh 550 pounds.
On Canada's Prince Edward Island, "transgenic" Atlantic salmon injected with a protein grow four times faster than ordinary fish.
The "blue revolution" - like the green revolution in biotech agriculture - is on the verge of exploding, and new breeds of salmon could be the first genetically altered animals sold in the local supermarket.
But from the shores of Puget Sound to the California statehouse and from the Alaska governor's office to two streams on Vancouver Island, fishermen, government officials and environmentalists are increasingly wary of what critics are calling "Frankenfish."
And in Washington, D.C., a White House panel is trying to sort out which agency has jurisdiction, with the Food and Drug Administration, the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service all having a possible claim.
"We are very worried," said Glen Spain, Northwest regional director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations. "Once you let the genies out of the bottle, you are at the mercy of the genies."
No one is quite sure what the long-term biological or environmental consequences might be if genetically altered salmon escaped from the fish farms, where they would be raised, and cross-bred or competed with wild, native stocks for food and spawning sites.
Most of the attention has focused on fish farms in New England, where there are fears transgenic fish could mate with Atlantic salmon that might be listed as an endangered species. But there is equal concern on the Pacific Coast.
"It's a hot issue," said Kevin Amos of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Scientists in the United States, Canada, Japan, China, New Zealand and other countries have been manipulating genes in fish for more than a decade, and some of the research is on the verge of commercial development.
A Massachusetts company, A/F Protein Inc., has said it has orders for 15 million eggs from genetically engineered, or transgenic, Atlantic salmon it has been raising on Prince Edward Island. The company has sought FDA approval to start marketing the eggs to fish farms.
The fish can reach market size in 18 months, rather than the 36 months it now takes a typical Atlantic salmon.
The breakthrough came when researchers at A/F Protein, an international biotech firm, discovered an antifreeze protein that allows flounder to survive in cold, arctic water where salmon can't. The protein acts as a switch that allows the Atlantic salmon to produce a growth hormone year-round. Normal salmon produce such a growth hormone only during warm months.
An A/F Protein spokesman was unavailable for comment, but the company's supporters say such transgenic salmon could dramatically expand fish farm operations around the world and relieve the pressure on wild stocks. Already, more than half the salmon sold in the United States are raised in farms.
Elsewhere, scientists in British Columbia and in the United States have been experimenting with such Pacific Coast stocks as the coho.
In New Zealand, a company using genetic engineering was developing what could have been a mammoth chinook, or King salmon, they believed could eventually grow to 550 pounds. Wild chinook have been caught weighing 100 pounds or so. .......
Thoughts anyone?
[This message has been edited by RT (edited 08-23-2000).]