"Some Canadians with an appetite for salmon may have already consumed the world’s first genetically modified food animal without even knowing it. As the aquaculture industry tinkers with fish DNA to more efficiently feed the world’s growing population, critics say we’re moving too far, too fast without adequate transparency."
The industry's pitches this engineered food as a way to solve a 'food production problem' in the world. Here's some comments from a member of First Nations, a researcher of genetically engineered food, and a wild salmon conservationist have to say.
Excerpts:
Charlie Sark A member of the Mi’kmaq First Nations and professor in the school of climate change and adaptation at the University of P.E.I. says, “Salmon are sacred,” Sark says in an interview. “You just can’t change the genetics of an animal that Indigenous peoples have used for thousands of years without first consulting them.”
Lucy Sharratt: “There is no mandatory labelling for consumers in the grocery stores and there’s very little transparency, and yet we find ourselves in the position of eating the world’s first genetically engineered animal,”
“The information that’s used to decide the safety of genetically engineered food is submitted by the companies that want approval,” she says. “Very little of that information is publicly available. Very little is peer-reviewed.”
"Kris Hunter of the Atlantic Salmon Federation, a science and advocacy organization dedicated to conserving and restoring wild Atlantic salmon, says genetically engineered salmon could be an ecological disaster for wild salmon, especially if rules change and they become the fish of choice for the farmed salmon industry."
Article by: Sarah Cox, The Narwhal | Dec. 20, 2020
This is the second part of The Narwhal’s three-part series on the future of sustainable salmon.
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