Genetically Modified Salmon now cleared by the FDA for consumption

A small company named AquAdvantage has become the first company that is legally allowed to sell genetically modified animal to be sold as food. Ever since the new techniques of modifying animal genomes regarding the use of Crispr-Cas9, which allows the editing of an animals genome instead of having to add a gene into an animal, there has been an increasing interest into  creating newly modified organisms. Using this technology, scientists have implemented a growth hormone gene from Chinook salmon and a genetic switch from an ocean pout into the AquAdvantage salmon to make them grow to market size as almost half of the time. The normal time of growing a salmon can be anywhere from 28-36 months whereas the AquAdvantage salmon only takes from 18-20 months. Although there has been backlash by the public about consuming genetically modified fish, the company and the FDA have confirmed that the fish is safe to eat. AquAdvantage has also reassured the public that the fish cannot escape the growing tanks, that even if they were able to do so, they are created sterile so they cannot infest the wild. It would be about two years before supermarkets will be able to carry these genetically modified fish if they chose to do so.

I personally think that this is a great advance in genetic modification. Although people are speaking out against eating genetically modified organisms, if more and more animals can be grown quicker, that would in turn create more food for people. This could potentially be the first step in curing hunger by eventually creating more genetically modified animals to grow faster. If people became less ignorant and more educated on genetic modification, then I believe less people would be afraid of it. 

The original article can be found here.