Genetically modified salmon is authorized in the United States. It is the first animal product to obtain this sesame.
Americans will be able to eat genetically modified fish. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved AquAdvantage salmon on November 19. Produced by the company AquaBounty Technologies, it has the particularity of growing faster than its congeners reared in a traditional way.
This is a first in the United States. So far, only agricultural GMOs have received this precious sesame from the FDA. Before granting it to AquaBounty Technologies, the Agency reviewed the data submitted by the producer, in order to assess the health and environmental impact of an authorization.
GMO salmon is as safe as natural salmon for food and feed, says the FDA. The fish are not affected by this genetic modification, apart from the accelerated growth. The alterations induced are moreover stable over several generations. This alteration has little risk of having an impact on the environment, adds the Agency: the containment measures in farms in Panama and Canada make it unlikely that GMO specimens will leak.
Useful applications
For the FDA, genetically modified animals can be of great benefit to human health, the environment and agriculture. “Animals are developed to become more resistant to very painful and disabling diseases, such as udder infection (mastitis) in dairy cows or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease) in all livestock. », She illustrates.
Animals can also be modified to produce antibodies against certain diseases, to be eligible for transplantation in humans, as is the case in research in pigs, or to have a lower impact on the environment. .
But it is still necessary that consumers accept it. In the United States, unlike France, mentioning that a food has been genetically modified is not mandatory. “The FDA admits that many consumers would like to have this information, and some producers would like to make this distinction,” the agency said in a statement.
.
