Genetically Modified Salmon Essay -- Genetic Engineering

What if the food you were eating right now was not what you thought it was? Instead of being grown like that rest of your food, taking a certain length of time or only growing during certain seasons, it was genetically modified to grow faster and with no consideration to season at all. This concept as farfetched as it may sound is not so farfetched after all with the production of genetically modified GM salmon trying to make its way into our fishers markets and grocery stores today. This process has been going on for almost 20 years, being done to crops and animals alike, however, GM salmon will be the first commercial GM food animal to hit the American market. However, with first come questions such as â€Å"what is the difference between salmon on the market currently and the genetically altered ones and is it harmful or harmless?† Most of the foods that we consume from grocery stores are products of artificial selection in which humans breed select animals or plants together because of their desirable traits that we see as useful and beneficial. However, genetically modifying a food is a process that is completely different. For GM salmon, scientists are inserting the growth gene from the Pacific Chinook salmon and a switch-on gene from the Ocean Pout into the fertilized eggs of Atlantic salmon ("Clarified: What does," 2010). The Pacific Chinooks growth genes will allow the genetically altered salmon to grow to its full adult size in half the time, while the Ocean Pout switch-on gene will allow it to grow during the winter and summer months ("Clarified: What does," 2010). Ultimately, instead of waiting approximately 36 months to reach their eight-pound market ready weight, we would only be waiting 18 months, allowing the GM salmo... ...010/09/20/genetically-modified-salmon/ Dispatch: Fda weighs in. (2010, September 7). Retrieved from http://www.acsh.org/factsfears/newsID.1828/news_detail.asp Zajac, A. (2010, August 14). Genetically engineered salmon under fda consideration. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/2010/aug/14/business/la-fi-super-salmon-20100814 Zajac, A. (2010, September 22). No agreement imminent on salmon labeling. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/2010/sep/22/nation/la-na-salmon-fda-20100922 Zhu, J. (2010, March 4). Countries differ on gm food laws. Retrieved from http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2010-03/04/content_9534295.htm Zohar, Y. (2010, September 22). Genetically modified salmon is fit for the table. Retrieved from articles.cnn.com/2010-09-22/opinion/zohar.genetically.engineered.salmon_1_fish-and-seafood-wild-stocks-wild-atlantic-salmon/2?_s=PM:OPINION6