Company says FDA is nearing decision on genetically engineered Atlantic salmon

Although genetically engineered crops such as corn and soybeans have been part of the American diet for several years, if the Food and Drug Administration approves the salmon, it will be the first transgenic animal headed for the dinner table.

"I would serve it to my kids," said Val Giddings, who worked as a geneticist at the Agriculture Department for a decade before becoming a private consultant.

The financial rewards could be huge.

Aquaculture is an $86 billion-a-year business -- nearly half of all fish consumed worldwide are farm-raised. As wild stocks dwindle and the world's population heads toward 9 billion, fish farmers will be looking for stock that will be market-ready more quickly.

But skeptics abound.

Fears persist about human health risks from genetically modified food, but concerns about bioengineered salmon also extend to the environment.

Farmed salmon are raised in net pens in coastal waters along Washington, British Columbia and Maine. Most commonly, the fish being raised are Atlantic salmon, and the fear is that they'll escape and compete with endangered native stocks. By some estimates, 400,000 to 1 million Atlantic salmon have escaped into the wild from the 75 or so net-pen operations in British Columbia.

A Purdue University study using a computer model -- and widely criticized by the biotechnology industry -- showed that if 60 transgenic fish bred in a population of 60,000 wild fish, the wild fish would be extinct in 40 generations.

Read full story in The Washington Post

Read related stories:

• Time Magazine; September 1, 2010; "How I learned to love farmed fish" 
• The Guardian (UK); August 27, 2010; "Why the case for GM salmon is still so hard to stomach:
• Chicago Tribune; August 23, 2010; Genetically engineered salmon under FDA consideration - AquaBounty seeks FDA approval for a genetically engineered fish that reaches market weight in half the usual time. Some in the industry are leery."LA Times; August 14, 2010; "Genetically engineered salmon under FDA consideration"
• LA Times; August 10, 2010; "Poised on History's Doorstep: Super Salmon or Frankenfish"
•  AOL News; August 5, 2010; "Hungry for genetically engineered fish?