Thursday 3 April 2014

AquAdvantage Salmon -Casey Samaroo

 Casey Samaroo

AquAdvantage Salmon

AquAdvantage salmon is a genetically modified salmon more specifically it is a genetically modified Atlantic salmon  by AquaBounty Technologies. Typically people would ask how is the fish modified and is it healthy to eat?

The whole purpose of this modification is to grow salmon year round as well as increase the rate of physical growth.  AquaBounty does this by combining a growth hormone-regulating gene from a Pacific Chinook salmon and an anti freeze protein from an Ocean Pout and adds it to the Atlantic salmon.

The genetic modification of animals in most needed for animals that are becoming endangered or close to being endangered

The main reason AquaBounty made this genetic modificaition was because they felt that the current growth rate of wild Atlantic salmon was too slow to meet the future market demands for this fish. They claim they could do this without changing the features of the fish. AquaBounty produced the chart shown above which shows that for a 4kg salmon they are able to reduce the growth time by 25%.  Traditional fish farmers dispute these claims.

As helpful as it may be there are some harm that can come from making these genetically modified fish. For one, we don't know enough about these modifications and the possible affects it could have on the species, animals that consume the modified fish and the general environment.

There are many things that could go wrong with genetically modifying Salmon, for example they could physically harm the wild salmon by reproducing with them this could happen because of the DNA strands are triploid but at times some of the genetically modified fish could be  diploid  as wild salon are diploid.These modified fish could contaminate the environment ,right here in Canada the land based, fresh water egg production facility is located. In Prince Edwards Island, Canada. Historically, Atlantic salmon lived in the fresh bodies of water in this area, but as of recent wild salmon populations remain in the area due to over development, the inability to migrate, and acid rain. In the winter, temperatures in bodies of water near the facility are too low for wild salmon, although spring and summer temperatures are survivable to salmon. Also because of a high amount of salt in the water it is very hard for the fish to survive either way. What about the effects of the modification on human health? how would it affect people who are allergic to salmon is it edible for them? what are the long term effects on our bodies with this modification? We don't have the answers to these questions yet and clearly there is not enough known about these modifications and that they should take a closer look as to what we are feeding other animals and humans as well.

There are many ethical problems with taking fish and genetically modifying them. For one how would you like it if someone captured you from your home and decided to change everything about you and in reality make you an entirely new person? we take these fish from their natural habitat and bring them into a new area and preform tests on them and use it for your own betterment they are animals as well we  think we are above them but they cant control that we say that bullying is bad and we in turn are the biggest bullies of them all. Another ethical issue would be that we are messing with nature we are no longer natural we have become artificial and have to change everything we have learnt and now modify that to keep up with the ever so changing time we live in. In addition some of our more religious members of the population would say that we are all gods creatures and should treat each other equally but we decide that we can change everything because we are above everything else.

In conclusion yes i do believe that this technology should be used worldwide and i say this because we could use this technology to help endangered species to reproduce faster and repopulate the species but there should be some very strict guidelines and close watch from the government, this so we don't overpopulate the species or start to experiment just for the curiosity of the human mind and the greed for money. Yes it could be very valuable but only if it is used correctly as the amount of fish being ate in the past decade has increased quite dramatically and this will help the demand and keep the fish market blooming.  

Pros of Genetically Modified Fish

  • Better resistance to weather
  • Can grow year round
  • Faster growth
  • Could be more nutritious 
  • Better tasting 
  • Spend less money producing more food
  • can repopulate endangered species

Cons of  Genetically Modified Fish

  • Unexpected Side-Effects
  • Reduced Species Diversity
  • Ecological Damage
  • Ethically wrong
  • Messing with nature
  • The Benefits May Not Be Available to Everyone


So fellow bloggers do you believe the pros of genetically modifying fish outweigh the cons?




References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AquAdvantage_salmon
http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/important-uses-of-genetic-engineering
http://www.biofortified.org/2010/10/salmon/

2 comments:

  1. No, even though the pros of genetically modifying fish looks outweigh, the cons of this technology can affect us human in many ways than we think. For instance, genetically engineered salmon and farmed conventional farmed are different food quality. The genetically engineered salmon is present in six chemicals at values that differ by more than 10 percent from conventional farmed salmon. -kivonika

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