What if the food you were eating right now was not what you thought it was? Instead of being grown like that rest of your food, taking a certain length of time or only growing during certain seasons, it was genetically modified to grow faster and with no consideration to season at all. This concept as farfetched as it may sound is not so farfetched after all with the production of genetically modified GM salmon trying to make its way into our fishers markets and grocery stores today. This process has been going on for almost 20 years, being done to crops and animals alike, however, GM salmon will be the first commercial GM food animal to hit the American market. However, with first come questions such as “what is the difference between salmon on the market currently and the genetically altered ones and is it harmful or harmless?”
Most of the foods that we consume from grocery stores are products of artificial selection in which humans breed select animals or plants together because of their desirable traits that we see as useful and beneficial. However, genetically modifying a food is a process that is completely different. For GM salmon, scientists are inserting the growth gene from the Pacific Chinook salmon and a switch-on gene from the Ocean Pout into the fertilized eggs of Atlantic salmon ("Clarified: What does," 2010). The Pacific Chinooks growth genes will allow the genetically altered salmon to grow to its full adult size in half the time, while the Ocean Pout switch-on gene will allow it to grow during the winter and summer months ("Clarified: What does," 2010). Ultimately, instead of waiting approximately 36 months to reach their eight-pound market ready weight, we would only be waiting 18 months, allowing the GM salmo...
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Zohar, Y. (2010, September 22). Genetically modified salmon is fit for the table. Retrieved from articles.cnn.com/2010-09-22/opinion/zohar.genetically.engineered.salmon_1_fish-and-seafood-wild-stocks-wild-atlantic-salmon/2?_s=PM:OPINION6
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the AquAdvantage salmon for consumption. The salmon has been genetically engineered to grow faster than the conventional farmed salmon.
Food is an essential part of everyday life without it one could not survive. Every day we make choices on what we put in to our bodies. There are countless varieties of food to choose from to meet the diverse tastes of the increasing population. Almost all food requires a label explaining the ingredients and the nutritional value allowing consumers to make informed decisions on what they are consuming. However, many may not be considering where that food is coming from or how it has been produced. Unfortunately, there is more to food than meets the eye. Since 1992, “ the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ruled, based on woefully limited data, that genetically modified foods were ‘substantially equivalent’ to their non-GM counterparts” (Why to Support Labeling). GM food advocates have promised to create more nutritious food that will be able to grow in harsh climate conditions and eventually put an end to world hunger in anticipation of the growing population. There is very little evidence to support these claims and study after study has proven just the opposite. GM crops are not only unsafe to consume, but their growing practices are harmful to the environment, and multinational corporations are putting farmers out of business.
Fish and other animals are being genetically modified which means that they could be unhealthy or could lead to huge toxicity cases furthermore they could start to genetically modify other animals like cows. This is an unreasonable decision because the harms are inadequate which could mean there could be much harm like toxicity and allergic reactions which means that GMO is not safe and should not be in the market till all the advantages and disadvantages are figured out.
Through the research done to study genetically engineered salmon, it has been provide that it not good for human consumption. Genetically modified salmon present the higher levels of Insulin-like Growth Hormone are than wild salmon. The higher levels of IGF-1 absorb in humans has shown to increased risk prostate, breast and colon cancers. In addition genetically modified salmon have a lack of nutritional value...
Additionally, the nutritional value of the genetically modified AquAdvantage salmon is very similar to that of normal salmon. Thus, there is no sacrifice in nutritional benefit as both salmon have identical omega 3 and 6 fatty acid
Our attitudes toward GMO foods range from hostility to indifference. GMO foods, like pesticide-resistant Roundup Ready soybeans and fast-growing salmon, seem to exist primarily to pad corporate pockets. Most people are not aware that they are eating GMO foods. The greater percentage of the population is just looking at the price tag instead of what is in the food product. This technology has the potential to provide sustainable nutrient rich food sources throughout the ages if the science is not abused for the food industry’s
The genetic engineering of foods has, in one sense, been in existence for hundreds of years. The first time Gregor Mendel bred different varieties of pea plants to observe the various traits present in their offspring, the concept was born. Today, genetic engineering has developed into one of the most complex and advanced fields of scientific thinking, all the while provoking many questions and acquiring many opponents along the way. While there are compelling arguments presented for each side of the issue, the simple fact is that genetically modified (GM) foods are a reality, especially in the United States, as they are already present in many products that are consumed on a daily basis. Just as the market for GM foods has increased, the level of opposition has increased as well, even up to the point of terrorist action against producers, growers, and sellers of genetically modified foods. So the question is posed, will GM foods be the future or the failure of our agricultural system?
Salmon Farming If you recently ordered salmon off the menu of your favorite restaurant, or purchased it from your local grocery store, chances are it was farmed. According to “Salmon of the Americas, an organization of salmon-producing companies in Canada, Chile and the United States, 70 percent of the salmon produced in British Columbia and Washington comes from salmon farms. If it weren’t for these farms, we would not have the luxury and abundance of this delicious and healthy food available to us year round. Salmon farming represents one very important way to feed the world and people want to eat more salmon and seafood- more than can be caught.
Okigbo, R., Iwube, J., & Putheti, R. (2011). An extensive review on genetically modified (GM) foods
GMO’s have opened a new world of foods to humans, and now we have countless of opportunities to use genetically modified food to a favor. Alessandra Potenza from Upfront Magazines tells us, “...The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first genetically modified animal: a salmon engineered to grow to market size in about half the time as a regular salmon.” Alessandra Potenza later goes on to tell the reader that many restaurants are serving GMO’s.
GMO foods, also known as the genetically modified organism, have rapidly grown since the late 1990’s all over the world. These organisms have their DNA altered in a way that is considered unnatural. This is so as to give the plant/meat the desired trait the farmer wants in the food, such as higher Vitamin A, C etc. In Canada, GMO food is in 70 percent of the food people purchase, and Canada also produces 6% of all the GMO food exports such as Canola, sugar beets etc. Moreover, another problem up North is the debate over GMO food labeling and arguments over whether Gmo food is safe or not to produce and eat.
Technology at the biological level in the food industry has helped to improve food processing and manufacturing, flavor, and even nutritional value. Through biotechnology animals have been created with not only enhanced growth rates but increased lean muscle mass and enhanced resistance to disease. An example of this in the fishing industry is the transfer of a growth hormone originally found in rainbow trout into carp eggs. This technology then produces a modified carp that is one third larger than a traditionally bred carp. Another example is the cloning of large quantities of a cattle growth hormone in order to increase milk production in cows by over ten percent. Advancements like these can help to solve hunger issues plaguing areas of the world by producing more nutritional food in a quicker amount of
How many of you hear the words “genetically modified food” and immediately think “BAD”? How many of you scorn the idea that genetically modified foods are useful? How many of you have been manipulated by the media to think that all biotechnology is evil? Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are organisms that have been genetically spliced to achieve a certain trait. As the demand for a larger food supply is increasing due to population growth, the benefits that GMO foods provide are being hailed as the only solution to the food crisis. However, many people are making inadequately informed decisions, and are pushing them to the back shelf. I will inform you on why genetically modified organisms may be the only way to a stable, safe future for the less fortunate.
United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). (2012). Genetically engineered salmon. Retrieved from http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/DevelopmentApprovalProcess/ GeneticEngineering/GeneticallyEngineeredAnimals/ucm280853.htm.
In search of larger and less expensive seafood, humans have taken to the laboratory to create genetically modified fish. While attempting to address the world’s growing demand for seafood, we realize that if introduced to the wild, genetically engineered salmon are likely to compete with wild fish, including the endangered Atlantic salmon, for habitat, food, and mates. This could lead to extinction and ultimately disrupt the marine ecosystem.