AquaBounty Technologies created genetically-modified fish that can reportedly grow twice as fast as conventionally-farmed Atlantic salmon, reaching adult size in some 18 months as compared to 30 months. AquaBounty has also claimed the salmon consume 20 to 25 percent less food per gram of new flesh. The firm’s Atlantic salmon are modified with a growth hormone gene from Chinook salmon that makes them grow much faster than normal. In the wild, salmon produce the hormone only when the conditions are right for rapid growth. In the AquAdvantage salmon, a regulatory switch from an ocean pout gene makes the fish produce growth hormone all the time, so the AquAdvantage salmon grow rapidly throughout the year.
In 2015, AquaBounty salmon was approved in the U.S. by the Food and Drug Administration, it was reported to be the first genetically-modified animal to be approved for human consumption. But within weeks the FDA issued a ban on the import and sale of genetically-modified fish until labeling guidelines were established.
Two major grocery chains in Canada, IGA and Costco, have said on their website that they do not wish to sell genetically-modified salmon. The Montreal-based environmentalist group GMO Vigilance has said on its website that the sale of genetically-modified salmon makes Canadians “guinea pigs” and the federal government should introduce labeling so consumers can identify which fish is as a genetically-modified product. The fish are sterile and are only being raised in landlocked tanks. The salmon eggs AquaBounty produces are all female, and their number of chromosomes has been modified to make them sterile, like seedless watermelons. However, this process is not 100 percent successful, people worried about the potential for these fast-growing salmon to escape and mix with wild populations. After raising these concerns with AquaBounty, the company agreed to address them, and, “they’ve stood by their word,” Hallerman said. AquAdvantage salmon eggs are produced in a land-based research facility on Prince Edward Island. If the eggs were to escape the facility, they would find themselves in salt water, where regulators predict they would be unable to survive. Salmon hatch and develop in fresh water, then swim to salt water to spend most of their adulthood. The eggs are then shipped to a land-based aquaculture facility in Panama, thousands of miles from the nearest Atlantic salmon population, where they grow to market weight.
The FDA and Environment Canada conducted environmental analyses in light of these precautions and gave the fish the go-ahead. The FDA approved the salmon in November 2015, and Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency followed in May 2016. Sales began in Canada in 2017. Because Health Canada concluded that these salmon are “as safe and nutritious for humans and livestock as conventional salmon,” labeling was optional and left up to the discretion of the grocers who distributed the filets. In the United States, the regulatory landscape is less straightforward.
In some other countries, such as Australia, whole new acts were drawn up specifically to cover biotech products. In the United States, square pegs were shoved into round holes. For example, because many genetically modified plants are generated using a modified version of a bacterium that can be an agricultural pest, these plants are regulated as plant pests. Genetically modified animals are regulated as drugs, which is why the Food and Drug Administration is responsible. That could help to explain why these salmon, which were first developed back in 1989, are only now reaching the marketplace. Despite the 2015 approval, the salmon still hasn’t hit U.S. shelves due to a section in the congressional spending bill, which requires that the FDA finalize guidance related to labeling before imports can begin. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) just this month introduced a bill that would require the salmon to include the label “genetically engineered.”
The FDA determined that food from AquAdvantage Salmon is as safe to eat as food from non-GE Atlantic salmon. In addition, the nutritional profile of AquAdvantage Salmon is comparable to that of non-GE farm-raised Atlantic salmon. As part of its evaluation, the FDA examined data comparing three groups of fish: non-GE farm-raised Atlantic salmon from both the sponsor’s farm and from a different commercial farm, and AquAdvantage Salmon. This study compared key hormones (including estradiol, testosterone, 11-ketotestosterone, T3, T4 and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1)) and found no biologically relevant differences.
AquAdvantage Salmon are subject to stringent conditions to prevent the possibility of escape into the wild. The salmon cannot be raised in ocean net pens: instead, the approval allows for them to be grown only at two specific land-based facilities: one in Canada, where the breeding stock are kept, and Panama, where the fish for market will be grown out using eggs from the Canada facility. Both the Canada and Panama facilities have multiple and redundant physical barriers to prevent eggs and fish from escaping, including metal screens on tank bottoms, stand pipes, and incubator trays to prevent the escape of eggs and fish during hatching or rearing. The tanks also have covers, nets, jump fences, and screened overflow tanks to prevent escape over the sides of the tanks or incubators. Tank netting also keeps predators such as birds from entering the fish tanks at the outdoor facilities in Panama. The facilities in Canada are indoors. All tank drains and stand pipes have covers or sleeves permanently attached to them. In order to prevent eggs or small fish from passing through the pipes or plumbing, there is a closed septic system and additional screens and chlorine pucks are used to kill any escaped fish or eggs in the main drain area. The FDA has inspected the Canadian facility twice and, with a representative of NOAA’s National Marine and Fisheries Service, performed an extensive site visit of the Panamanian facility. Based on the agency’s review of these facilities, the agency is confident that the possibility for escape is highly unlikely, and that the procedures in place to monitor physical containment are appropriate.
The FDA found that an approval of the application related to AquAdvantage Salmon would not cause a significant impact on the environment of the United States. This finding is based on the extremely low likelihood that AquAdvantage Salmon could escape from the Canada and Panama facilities and survive in an ocean or waterway to interbreed with wild Atlantic salmon.
I do no eat or consume any fish products because I am vegan. However, this ‘product’ and the very idea of calling any kind of animal a ‘product’ is scary to me. I think that humans should not be playing god. However, with the oceans fish supply slowly dying each year, this could be the future of fish production simply because we distorted our oceans. Additionally, I think if this is widespread in each grocery store, it still should be properly labeled as ‘genetically-modified’ to make sure the consumer is informed on what exactly they are eating.