See on Scoop.it – Sustainable Livestock development

Sometime this summer or soon after, the federal Food and Drug Administration may finally approve the first-ever genetically modified animal for human consumption — a fast-growing Atlantic salmon that has taken 17 years to reach the threshold of American consensus. The man to thank — or blame, depending on how you feel about these things — is a former Soviet biologist who is bankrolling the endeavor with an eye on becoming a U.S. salmon farmer.

“I have no doubt the FDA will approve a genetically modified animal at some point,” says Kakha Bendukidze, the largest shareholder in AquaBounty Technologies, a Boston-area biotech company that wants to bring its genetically altered AquAdvantage Salmon to American dinner tables and supermarkets. “Whether it’s this fish or some other animal, it has to do this, or it risks America losing its biotechnology edge to countries like China.”

More than 33,000 fishermen, environmentalists and food safety advocates have written to the FDA to oppose the approval. Among their worries: that this genetically engineered fish might cause unique allergic reactions in humans; that it might escape and mix with wild salmon and ultimately out breed and out eat them; and that the fast-growing broods could flood the market and cripple the wild salmon fishing industry in coastal states like Alaska, Oregon and Washington

See on m.smartplanet.com