AN American company has developed a genetically modified salmon that can grow to maturity in half the normal time.
The company, AquaBounty, says the new GM salmon will be bred in fish farms, but also in totally sterile conditions to prevent them breeding with wild salmon.
Normally, an Atlantic salmon takes about three years to reach normal full size. But by implanting genetic material from an eel-like species called ocean pout that grows all year round, the scientists have managed to make the fish grow to full size in 18 months.
AquaBounty maintains that the that the sterile GM salmon can offer an efficient and safe way to breed salmon in fish farms, so that the wild fish can be left in the oceans.
The United States the Food and Drug Administration, which decides what is fit to eat, is examining considering if the GM Atlantic salmon, called AquAdvantage, is safe to eat. The fish could be on supermarket shelves within a year. But environmental campaigners such as The Soil Association question whether the GM material is safe for humans to consume and fear the sterile salmon will mutate in the wild and be able to breed. Such a fish would need approval from the European Union before it could be sold in Britain or any EU country.
Ronald Stotish, chief executive of AquaBounty, told the Sunday Times at the weekend that the development did not mean the public would get extra large salmon. "You just get to your target we weight in a shorter time," he added. AquaBounty says its GM salmon has the same nutritional value and taste as conventional salmon
Normally, an Atlantic salmon takes about three years to reach normal full size. But by implanting genetic material from an eel-like species called ocean pout that grows all year round, the scientists have managed to make the fish grow to full size in 18 months.
AquaBounty maintains that the that the sterile GM salmon can offer an efficient and safe way to breed salmon in fish farms, so that the wild fish can be left in the oceans.
The United States the Food and Drug Administration, which decides what is fit to eat, is examining considering if the GM Atlantic salmon, called AquAdvantage, is safe to eat. The fish could be on supermarket shelves within a year. But environmental campaigners such as The Soil Association question whether the GM material is safe for humans to consume and fear the sterile salmon will mutate in the wild and be able to breed. Such a fish would need approval from the European Union before it could be sold in Britain or any EU country.
Ronald Stotish, chief executive of AquaBounty, told the Sunday Times at the weekend that the development did not mean the public would get extra large salmon. "You just get to your target we weight in a shorter time," he added. AquaBounty says its GM salmon has the same nutritional value and taste as conventional salmon
