Blue revolution on the horizon as scientists develop genetically engineered fish

[Guest guest]

http://www.thecampaign.org/education/brochure_fish.php"Blue revolution" on the horizon as scientists develop genetically engineered fishAgribusinesses tamper with nature in the quest for ever greater profitsComing soon to a supermarket near you: genetically engineered salmon, tuna, lobsters, shrimp and other sea critters. Some scientists are calling this latest wave of sea-based genetic tampering the "blue revolution". Unfortunately, this revolution may have dire consequences for human health and the environment-even, possibly, leading to the extinction of some species of fish. The most imminent biotech seafood has been dubbed the superfish. It's a salmon that grows twice as big - and as much as six times as quickly - as its natural Atlantic counterpart, and it may be in stores as early as next year. A/F Protein, an American-Canadian biotech firm doing business on Prince Edward Island, has genetically engineered more than 100,000 salmon so far to include an antifreeze protein that allows the salmon to produce a growth hormone year-round. Normally, the salmon produce this growth hormone only during the warm months.A/F Protein is awaiting approval by the Food and Drug Administration to begin selling the fish to the United States, the biggest consumer of farmed fish in the world.Other companies are tinkering with genetic engineering techniques that could produce the world's largest lobster, and giant chickens, sheep and pigs. The goal is to produce animals with double the meat yield of normal animals.Proponents of sea biotechnology think it will do a lot to help their bottom line. "We're aiming to reduce the time to market to 50 percent so we're no longer having to feed these fish without getting any return," Michael Erisman, vice president of business development for A/F Protein, told Fox News last fall.Proponents of Frankenfish argue that it is an efficient way of feeding a growing human population at a time when fishing stocks are declining around the globe. But critics say mixing biotech and seafood may spell disaster. Risky business: "Trojan" genes may wipe out natural fish populationsIndustry officials say that they will grow genetically engineered salmon in "fish farms" - enclosed pens that are kept separate from wild fish. But many scientists are terrified of the possible ramifications should genetically engineered salmon or other marine life escape from notoriously leaky fish farms. Frequently, fish farms are kept in open waters; storm weather and other factors often lead to fish escapes.In one study, Purdue University scientists William Muir and Richard Muir looked at what might happen if transgenic Japanese madaka fish were released into the wild. The pair discovered that 30 percent of Japanese madaka that are engineered to produce human growth hormone-and thus grow much faster than normal-don't survive to sexual maturity. "In the market, this is not important. Fish can be sold and eaten before they are sexually mature," writes biotech fish critic Jean-Michel Cousteau for the Environmental News Network. "But in nature, surviving to sexual maturity is everything. The superfish may dominate the mating game, but if they are least likely to produce viable offspring, the population will eventually decline."The Purdue scientists calculated that if 60 transgenic fish were released into a population of 60,000 wild fish, in 40 generations, the species would become extinct. Biotech fish growers say they will render the biotech fish sterile, thus preventing the extinction problem. However, Cousteau argues, "complete sterilization of all fish is simply not a reality. Nor is it likely to be. No company has stepped forward to guarantee 100 percent perfection in sterility. And nothing short of perfection is acceptable, for it only takes one well-endowed superfish in a population of wild salmon to start the process of decline."An additional fear is that Frankensalmon and other transgenic aquatic species will wipe out food sources for their natural counterparts.A/F Protein is not the first company to experiment with genetically mutated fish. In the mid-1990s, NZ King Salmon, New Zealand's largest salmon producer, tried to produce transgenic salmon. The company has confirmed, however, that some fish were spawned with deformed heads. Last May, German zoologist Hans-Hinrich Kaatz made headlines when he found evidence that genes used to modify crops can jump the species barrier and cause bacteria to mutate. Under that theory, if genetically engineered fish escape into the wild, it could lead to contamination of many natural species of fish.Who's minding the fish pen? Government policy "full of holes"The U.S. government, which already has a reputation for kowtowing to industry when it comes to genetically engineered fruits and vegetables, has not inspired confidence that it can handle the vast implications of biotech fish any better. Laws on the books are more appropriate for an earlier era, and some people say the present situation is akin to using 19th century transportation laws to regulate air travel."Here we are on the brink of remaking life on Earth through genetic engineering, and we do not have a thorough process for reviewing the environmental impacts," said William Brown, former science advisor to the Clinton Administration's Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. "The system is full of holes.""My sense is that the current system is not going to be OK and that there are going to have to be changes--or a whole new system put in," said Bill Knapp, a senior fisheries official with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.Federal officials, according to a January 2nd Los Angeles Times report, say there are no laws on the books requiring people who alter fish genes to keep the fish isolated from natural fish. Additionally, they say, it is unclear whether federal law prohibits a person from releasing genetically modified animals into the wild.Critics also charge that the FDA, whose domain is food and drug safety, does not have the expertise to gauge the environmental implications of biotech seafood. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Agriculture bowed out of the salmon case."Having the FDA assess environmental risks would be like having the Fish and Wildlife Service assessing food safety," said Rebecca Goldburg, a senior scientist with the environmental Defense Fund. "It's absurd."Many fishermen around the world are worried about the implications of transgenic fish as well. In Scotland, an estimated 700,000 salmon escaped from fish farms over a three-year period. In 2000, the trade group representing the country's salmon industry voted to reject any use of transgenic salmon within the country's borders. "We are very worried," said Glen Spain, Northwest regional director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations. "Once you let the genies out of the bottle, you are at the mercy of the genies."Food pharm: Biotech land animals on the way as wellBiotech companies also are working on bringing genetically engineered land-based animals to market. On the drawing board are pigs engineered to have less fat, cattle that grow twice as fast on less feed, and chicken engineered to resist disease-causing bacteria."The most striking of the new creatures being concocted by plucking a gene from one organism and inserting it into the DNA of another," according to a New York Times article last May, "are what are known as pharm animals. These domesticated beasts - cows, pigs, goats, sheep and chickens - have been given the ability to produce pharmaceuticals and other valuable substances in their milk, eggs or semen."If you think these developments sound like they come out of a frightening sci-fi novel, you're not alone.The New York Times continues: "Endowed by scientists with foreign genes, often taken from humans, these animals, or bioreactors, as they are known, earn their keep as living chemical factories."One company is developing a goat that includes genes from a spider, allow the goat to produce spider silk in its milk. The extremely strong spider silk would then be extracted from the goat's milk, and may be used in bulletproof vests and other products. A Canadian university team is trying to create chickens engineered to produce antibiotics in their eggs. Animal rights supporters say there are troubling moral issues surrounding the use of animals as chemical factories. And some scientists say there are food safety issues as well."Those goats are not going to just get a decent burial after they grow old and stop producing silk," John Matheson, senior regulatory review scientist at the Center for Veterinary Medicine at the FDA, told the New York Times. "So we have to look at them as potential food and as potential feed ingredients." Matheson also told the Times that some genetically engineered animals already have been approved for use in animal feeds, but said he was unable to reveal any details because the biotech animals are still experimental and under confidential FDA review.