Sandi Kaplan, MS, RD, Associate Director, Clinical Development & Support:

Genetically engineered food is not new on American menus. According to the US Department of Agriculture, 93% of US soy, 95% of US sugar beets, 86% of US corn and 90% of US canola is genetically modified. So when you see ingredients on a food label like corn meal, food starch, soy protein isolate and textured vegetable protein, chances are you are eating genetically modified organisms (GMO). In fact, it has been estimated that 75% of processed foods on supermarket shelves contains GMOs.

Now a company called AquAdvantage wants to do it in salmon. If the FDA allows this project to move forward, it will be the first genetically engineered animal sold as food.

The Atlantic salmon that AquAdvantage would produce are exactly the same as other farmed Atlantic salmon except for one thing. They carry a growth hormone gene from the Chinook salmon and a genetic switch from a fish called the ocean pout that freezes a growth-hormone gene in the "on" position. This causes overproduction of growth hormone which means that fish grow to marketable size about twice as fast as conventional fish.

Typically, salmon only produce the growth hormone in warm weather but this genetic change allows them to produce the growth hormone in cold weather too.

It is also interesting to note that the AquaAdvantage fish will mainly be female and will have three sets of chromosomes which will make them sterile. However, a small percentage of them will be engineered to be able to breed.

There is lots of debate about whether or not these genetically engineered salmon are safe. The two issues are whether it is safe for humans to eat these fish, and whether the fish could harm the environment if they escape out of their farm settings.

There is considerable concern from scientists and consumer groups that not enough testing has been done and the studies that have been done are in small numbers of fish. Also, there is no evidence of how healthy or unhealthy the fish will be after many years of breeding.  Critics also claim that the FDA process of approval is inadequate because it allows AquaAdvantage to keep some proprietary information private.
In addition, critics are concerned that the fish will escape and intermingle with the wild salmon population, which is already endangered. They would grow fast and consume more food which could be very detrimental to wild salmon.

There is some evidence to show that the genetic changes in the fish may make them more prone to causing allergies in people who eat them. There is also a concern that people who are already allergic to fish may have an even more severe reaction if they eat the genetically modified version.

There is also debate about whether or not this fish will be labeled as GMO if it is approved for human consumption.  It is possible that if the modified salmon is approved, consumers would not even know they were eating it. Current FDA regulations require modified foods to be labeled as such only if the food is substantially different from the conventional version, and AquaAdvantage and the FDA have said that the modified salmon is essentially the same as Atlantic salmon. If approval happens, the fish could be in grocery stores within two years.

The FDA has said there is a reasonable certainty of no harm from consumption of this fish and that there is little chance that the fish can escape because they will be bred in confined pools. “Reasonable certainty” and “little chance” are not good enough for me. They don’t seem to be good enough for European nations either who are skeptical of this technology.

AquaAdvantage claims that the fish would be bred in better conditions than many of the world's farmed salmon and could help to feed more people. They also say that having more engineered salmon will mean that the endangered wild salmon can be eaten less and their population can recover. They are also arguing that labeling the fish as genetically modified is misleading because it implies that there is a difference in this fish which they believe is not true.

Here are my thoughts in a nutshell – let’s eat fewer animal products so the animals who share our planet are not endangered and so more of the world’s population can be fed. Let’s move towards more “real food” and less processed, genetically modified, artificially farmed food. And let’s push for food labeling that is accurate and transparent. I reserve the right to know what I am eating so I can choose whether or not to eat it. That’s the message I want the FDA and AquaAdvantage to hear loudly and clearly.