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IPFS News Link • Science, Medicine and Technology

Salmon the first genetically engineered animal to get FDA approval for human consumption

• gizmag.com

The engineered salmon in question has had its DNA altered in such a way that it grows to market-ready size in around half the time of regular salmon, and has now been declared safe for humans and safe for the environment.

Developed by multinational company AquaBounty Technologies, the AquAdvantage salmon takes the three year cycle for farmed Atlantic salmon to reach market size and shortens it to 16-18 months, with the help of a couple of key ingredients. A growth hormone gene from the Chinook salmon, a faster growing species, is added to its DNA, along with a promoter from an eel-like fish called ocean pout. A promoter is a sequence of DNA that switches on the expression of a gene.

The move to clear the fish for consumption has been anything but a snap decision, with AquaBounty Technologies first filing for FDA approval of its genetically-modified salmon in 1995. In the years since, it has submitted a series of scientific studies in support of its application before the agency came to recommend an approval in 2010.


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