Zombie Salmon seem “Fishy”
It’s the plot of several laughable sci-fi movies: Radical scientist takes liberties with (insert animal specimen)’s DNA for one reason or another and causes the end of everything when the inevitable happens and (insert animal specimen) goes berzerk and kills without warning. Yup. Check your TBS listings for that one at least once a week. Perhaps science fiction has meant well in the past and intended to tell a story that would keep humanity on guarded edge when it comes to messing with mother nature, alas, more often though, it has been a comical “Cry Wolf.” Usually a poorly lit, badly written cry wolf at that.
It’s with that introduction that I present to you a fine new product from AquaBounty: Zombie Salmon. Okay, they don’t actually call it zombie salmon but it’s more fun this way trust me. In reality AquaBounty has been working for over 15 years on what they call an “Advanced-Hybrid Salmon.” They’re also working on trout and tilapia but the salmon is ready to make prime time news. The FDA is set to make a ruling this week regarding the sale of AquaBounty Advanced-Hybrid Salmon for human consumption. From all sources connected with the project, it would appear that the FDA will be issuing a big thumbs up to AquaBounty winding up on a dinner plate near you in the immediate future. You’ve probably had something with genetically modified DNA served to you at a restaurant before – modified soy beans for instance, or how about that modified corn that held your wife at gunpoint last summer? Point is that humans consume food that has been genetically modified and have been doing so for a while now. Want to know what makes this salmon a game changer? It’s the first time the FDA has been close to approving an animal that has been modified for human consumption. So what’s AquaBounty have to say? From their website:
AquaBounty is developing advanced-hybrid salmon, trout, and tilapia designed to grow faster than traditional fish. AquAdvantage® Salmon (AAS) reach market size twice as fast as traditional salmon. 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. AAS are also reproductively sterile, which eliminates the threat of interbreeding amongst themselves or with native populations, a major recent concern in dealing with fish escaping from salmon farms.
So then let’s flesh that out into some bullet points shall we? AquaBounty Salmon:
- Grow faster than standard fish.
- Lower costs for fish farmers.
- Increase opportunities for inland fish farms.
- Are completely reproductively sterile.
Wait, I’ve hear that last one somewhere…Oh, yeah it’s part of the plot from Jurassic Park!
I don’t meant to cause panic where none is necessary and quite frankly, far better minds than my own are debating genetically modified animals this very moment in more public arenas. What I can tell you from a tech perspective is that yes, we’ve arrived at that point where we really do need to thoroughly discuss as a people the science and ethics of quite literally altering life itself. This level of genetic manipulation was once the stuff of comic books and Twilight Zone episodes but it’s here right now and certainly offers some alluring prizes. What remains now is for science to find out if there actually is a price to pay for the previously unobtainable and if so, does that price outweigh the benefit. Here’s to hoping that we do better than most of the worlds science fiction writers would have us believe.
God help us all if Khan gets his hands on one of these fish.
