Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Monday 24 June 2019
Restaurants could be 1st to get genetically modified salmon

By CANDICE CHOI scan with their phones. The
NEW YORK (AP) — Inside an disclosure also would note
Indiana aquafarming com- that products have "bio-
plex, thousands of salmon engineered" ingredients,
eggs genetically modified which advocacy groups
to grow faster than normal say could be confusing.
are hatching into tiny fish. "Nobody uses that term,"
After growing to roughly said Amy van Saun of the
10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) Center for Food Safety,
in indoor tanks, they could who noted "genetically en-
be served in restaurants by gineered" or "genetically
late next year. modified" are more com-
The salmon produced mon.
by AquaBounty are the The center is suing over the
first genetically modified U.S. Food and Drug Ad-
animals approved for hu- ministration's approval of
man consumption in the AquaBounty's salmon, and
U.S. They represent one it is among the groups that
way companies are push- asked grocers to pledge
ing to transform the plants they wouldn't sell the fish.
and animals we eat, even The disclosure rules also do
as consumer advocacy not apply to restaurants
groups call for greater cau- and similar food service
tion. Peter Bowyer, the facility manager at AquaBounty Technologies, holds one of the last batch of establishments. Greg Jaffe
AquaBounty hasn't sold any conventional Atlantic salmon raised at the commercial fish farm in Albany, Ind., Wednesday, of the Center for Science
fish in the U.S. yet, but it says June 19, 2019. in the Public Interest noted
its salmon may first turn up Associated Press that AquaBounty's fish will
in places like restaurants or represent a tiny fraction of
university cafeterias, which As AquaBounty worked engineered plants and ani- But foods made with the the U.S. salmon supply, and
would decide whether to through years of govern- mals. The move comes as newer gene-editing tech- that many people may not
tell diners that the fish are ment approvals, several companies are turning to a nique wouldn't necessarily care whether they're eat-
genetically modified. grocers including Kroger newer gene-editing tech- be subject to the regula- ing genetically modified
"It's their customer, not and Whole Foods respond- nology that makes it easier tion, since companies say food. Still, he said restau-
ours," said Sylvia Wulf, Aqu- ed to a campaign by con- to tinker with plant and ani- the resulting plants and rants could make the in-
aBounty's CEO. sumer groups with a vow to mal DNA. animals could theoretically formation available to cus-
To produce its fish, Aqu- not sell the fish. That's blurring the lines be produced with conven- tomers who ask about it.
abounty injected Atlantic Already, most corn and around what should be tional breeding. And while "The information should not
salmon with DNA from oth- soy in the U.S. is geneti- considered a genetically AquaBounty's salmon was be hidden," Jaffe said.
er fish species that make cally modified to be more modified organism, and produced with an older AquaBounty's Wulf noted its
them grow to full size in resistant to pests and her- how such foods are per- technique, it may not al- salmon has already been
about 18 months, which bicides. But as genetically ceived. In 2015, an Associ- ways be obvious when sold in Canada, where dis-
could be about twice as modified salmon make ated Press-GfK poll found people are buying the fish closure is not required. She
fast as regular salmon. The their way to dinner plates, two-thirds of Americans either. said the company believes
company says that's more the pace of change to the supported labeling of ge- The disclosure regulation in transparency but ques-
efficient since less feed is food supply could acceler- netically modified ingredi- will start being implement- tioned why people would
required. The eggs were ate. ents on food packages. The ed next year, but manda- want to know whether the
shipped to the U.S. from This month, President Don- following year, Congress di- tory compliance doesn't fish are genetically modi-
the company's Canadian ald Trump signed an ex- rected regulators to estab- start until 2022. And under fied.
location last month after ecutive order directing lish national standards for the rules , companies can "It's identical to Atlantic
clearing final regulatory federal agencies to simplify disclosing the presence of provide the disclosures salmon, with the exception
hurdles. regulations for genetically bioengineered foods. through codes people of one gene," she said.q
Scientists predicting record dead zone in Chesapeake Bay

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — seafood industry. ter) swath of low-to-no oxy- be caused by heavy rains The dead zones are espe-
Some ecologists at the Uni- News outlets report envi- gen in the bay, making it the region experienced cially harmful to key Mary-
versity of Maryland are wor- ronmental scientists from one of the largest so-called this year, which washed land exports like crabs and
ried that a large spot of low Maryland and University of "dead zones" in nearly 20 wastewater and agricultur- oysters, even though other
oxygen in the Chesapeake Michigan say they're pre- years. al runoff into the bay. The scientists say some smaller
Bay could harm the state's dicting a 2-mile (3-kilome- This particularly damaging wastewater then produces marine creatures can with-
dead zone is thought to oxygen-stealing algae. stand the oxygen void.q

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