Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration removed barriers to the sale of genetically engineered salmon in the United States. GE salmon is the first genetically engineered animal to be approved for human consumption.
GMO Answers has issued a "Nine Things You Need Know about GMO Salmon" post with the latest, updated information on what this means for consumers. It contains a variety of sources and links for you to check out, so we encourage you to do so to be fully informed about this new GMO product.
Here are a few highlights:
For years, wild salmon has been on the decline. There are several reasons for this:
- 90 percent of the world's fisheries are either fully exploited, over-exploited or have collapsed. And large fish, like salmon, are the first to go.
- In addition to overfishing, pollution, environmental changes, habitat deterioration and disturbances of migration routes have all contributed to the reduction of salmon populations to dangerously low levels. Many salmon populations have disappeared completely. And yet seafood consumption will nearly double by 2050.
- Farmed fish production will likely need to increase by 133 percent to meet projected fish demand worldwide.
GM salmon will provide a sustainable and fast-growing alternative to wild salmon and enhance the production of farmed salmon.
AquAdvantage® salmon is fast-growing genetically engineered salmon that grows to market size in half the time as conventional Atlantic salmon. This salmon grows to market weight in about 16 to 18 months vs. 32 to 36 months for conventional salmon.
But is it safe?
In a word: Yes. Approximately 20 years of research, testing, evaluations, development and regulations went into getting this salmon’s FDA safety approval. In fact, all GM food products must be found as safe as their non-GM counterparts before they come to market. Here's what that review process for GMO crops looks like:
For answers to all your GMO-related questions, check out GMO Answers.
For a Q&A from FDA check out this page on the FDA website.