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GENETICALLY modified salmon could be appearing on supermarket shelves and restaurant menus in the United States within the next two years.
The US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) has announced a 60 day consultation and a series of public meetings this month to decide if GM fish can be eaten by human beings.
The full approval process is expected to take up to a year, but if it gets the go-ahead - and the indications are that it will - the salmon could be on sale publicly by 2012.
This variety of salmon has been produced by AquAdvantage Salmon, a registered GM product of the Massachusetts biotechnology company AquaBounty Technologies Inc. The fish it produces is extra large and can grow at twice the rate of normal salmon.
Some people say that it could eventually change the way salmon is farmed in the future. The company states on its website:"This advancement provides a compelling economic benefit to farmers (reduced growing cycle) as well as enhancing the economic viability of inland operations, thereby diminishing the need for ocean pens." The fish are also sterile, which the company says would prevent interbreeding with wild salmon.The company says that because salmon grows at twice the speed of similar fish, it cuts the costs for farmers and greatly increases production.
Because it is new ground for the FDA there are no regulations about genetically engineered animals and so it is being evaluated as if it were an animal treated with drugs.The FDA has established an advisory committee of veterinarians to consider the evidence and public views over the next few weeks.
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