Young Atlantic salmon FLICKR, U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICEAs controversy swirls over genetic engineering of foods, a genetically modified (GM) animal is one step closer to becoming a main course. AquaBounty Technologies, the firm that makes genetically modified salmon that grow twice as fast as non-GM salmon, has been given permission by Environment Canada to produce its GM fish eggs on a commercial scale in its Prince Edward Island research facility, according to a press release.
The GM salmon, called AquAdvantage, are Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) with an extra gene from Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) engineered into their genomes. The terms of the decision attempted to carefully control the GM eggs, which are all-female and sterile, according to the press release. “There are strict measures in place to prevent the release of this fish into the food chain,” an Environment Canada spokesman wrote in an e-mail to The Guardian.
GM salmon is still not approved for human consumption in Canada. “It’s only the status of the facility moving from research and development to essentially a facility that could be used for commercial purposes,” AquaBounty CEO Ron Stotish told The Canadian Press. “We would be regulated as a novel food in Canada ...
