GM animals on the menu

January 2022

As we enter 2022, what happened to the GM edible animals that we've been promised over the years?

Super-fast growing GM salmon have been trying to emerge from the lab since 1989 [1,2,3].

Having gained regulatory approval in America in 2015, GM salmon are now legal to produce and sell there despite being declared unlawful in 2020 due to the absence of any environmental risk assessment.

Deliciously pink fish

January 2019

British scientists seem to be heavily into improving farmed fish these days. They might have preferred to feed us GM fish (the patents would be worth a bob or two), but Frankenfish aren't going to feature on consumers' wish-list any time soon so they're settling for GM fish food additives instead [1].

The 'problem' the latest GM venture is trying to solve is that fish in the wild eat all sorts of different things which can end up in, and colour, their flesh all manner of pinks and oranges. Farmed fish have a very boring and unnatural diet, and end up fish-coloured, that is white or pale grey.

Could GM fish oil wreck the environment?

November 2018

Concerns about eating salmon stuffed with GM omega-3 oils may be over-blown [1], but the risks to the environment are very real.

GM veggie oil for fish

November 2018

The earliest suggestions that certain 'fatty acids' (the building block of oils) might be, like vitamins, vital to health in small quantities were ridiculed by the scientific establishment: oils were viewed as simply a concentrated source of energy for the body and devoid of any role in health promotion.

Science has moved a long way since then: fatty acids have been implicated in the healthy function and development of cells and tissues at every stage of life.  Two fatty acids in particular, 'EPA' and 'DHA' omega-3s*, are the subject of an "impressive documentation ... related to health benefits” with special reference to the heart and cardiovascular system.  Despite this, "the cellular and molecular mechanisms for (EPA and DHA) action are still insufficiently understood" (Gil). 

Keep hidden gene-edited crops out of the food chain

September 2018

Biotech scientists in the UK have successfully fooled themselves and their regulators into believing that artificial mutation is somehow a "natural phenomenon", and that the outcomes of new mutagenesis techniques could somehow happen in nature. Earlier this year, encouraged it seems by the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE), our Department of the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) was happy to give consent for field trials of GM Camelina*. These experimental crops include two lines produced using CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing [1].

Both scientists and regulators were so convinced that the preliminary opinion issued by the European Court of Justice Advocate General in January this year had said that all mutagenesis techniques should be exempt from regulation instead of what it did actually say [2], that they forged ahead with the development of gene-edited crops. The field trials have, therefore, not been subject to any GM-related safeguards.

The GM fish oil business

February 2017

Global materials-supply company, Cargill, is entering the GM race. With its existing well-honed expertise in farmer services [1], agricultural commodity and processing, animal feed and nutrition, transportation and logistics (not to mention sustainability consulting, and financial and risk management), the Company is aiming to supply us with farmed fish raised on GM plant-based 'fish' oil in less than five years.

The team assembled to achieve this includes German chemical company BASF which has been working on transforming canola (oilseed rape) with look-alike algal genes for 20 years, plus GM compliant farmers in Montana with whom Cargill has a close relationship, and a newly-purchased Norwegian fish feed company.

Feed me the truth

November 2016

Photo Creative Commons

Most people in the UK don't eat food made from GM ingredients, but supermarkets across the UK are selling products from GM-fed livestock with not a GM label in sight.  

This means that, unwittingly, people are eating eggs, milk, dairy products, poultry, red meat and farmed fish from animals that have been fed GM soya and/or maize.

On the subject of the absent labels, one professor of food marketing told farmers "we find it convenient not to make a big noise about it".

TAKE ACTION

It's time YOU made a big noise whether food marketers find it convenient or not.  

Check out GM Freeze campaign at www.gmfreeze.org/feedmethetruth/ and demand to be FED THE TRUTH on GM animal feed in your food-chain.

Oxitec business

September 2016

Photo: Creative Commons

From its August beginnings as a commercial spin-off from Oxford University's Innovation management subsidiary, 'Oxitec' self-destruct GM mosquitoes have never quite fulfilled early expectations.

Even the rosy vision of an end to major world killers like malaria, and dengue fever didn't manage to sell Oxitec mozzies.

However, Zika virus with its horrific connections to birth defects, provided a much better PR platform to generate the will to spend cash and annihilate mosquitoes at any cost [1].

In the meantime, the rights to Oxford's GM mozzies have been sold into the tender care of US-based Intrexon Corporation, and continue to be mired in controversy.

Genes outside of context

July 2016

Photo Creative Commons

A review article by the Rothamsted Research team developing GM plants with fish oil [1] describes the scientific process by which their novel crop was created.

'Omega-3' fish oils are essential dietary requirements for fish and humans. Their sole source in the food chain is tiny, one-cell organisms such as algae and some bacteria which are eaten by fish which are, in turn, eaten by humans. Fish-farming is now wide-spread and provides an effective system for producing animal protein for human consumption. Currently, farmed fish are fed on wild fish stocks and omega-3 oil supplemented feed. The limited supplies of both create a bottleneck in aquaculture production and expansion, and are environmentally damaging. GM fish-oil producing crops offer a promising and more sustainable alternative.

GM-fed butterflies don't fly

July 2016

Camelina: Photo Creative Commons

The UK government continues to promote GM crops as a rising star of industry. This isn't because it's enthralled by the herbicide-accumulating or insecticide-generating GM animal feed crops with which Big Biotech has filled overseas fields.

Westminster has its eye on high-value 'nutritionally-enhanced' GM offerings.

GM salmon approved

January 2016

In November 2015, after nearly two decades in the regulatory pipeline, the biotech creators of GM fast-growing salmon were "delighted and somewhat surprised" when the US Food and Drug Agency (FDA) finally approved their novel fish [1].

Labelling requirements have been left vague, limited to draft guidelines on wording for possible voluntary 'GM' or 'non-GM' labelling.

GM soya harms aquatic life

June 2015

Photo Creative Commons

At the beginning of the year, a GM feeding-study was published which investigated important life-history parameters not previously recorded.

The experiment involved Daphnia, a tiny shrimp-like freshwater animal which has been extensively studied and is used as an eco-indicator for environmental problems because of its importance in many food webs.

GM salmon don't swim safely

July 2014

Wild salmon. Photo Wikimedia Commons

In trying to introduce the first GM animal into the food chain, the US Food and Drug Federation (FDA) seems to be running up against some rather EU-type obstacles.  

 

The GM animal waiting to be marketed is AquaBounty's Atlantic Salmon with Ocean Pout growth-hormone genes.

 

FDA advisory scientists differ in their opinions of the GM fish, but are united in voicing several specific concerns, most notably that there is not enough science to demonstrate safety.

Fish oil from a plant

March 2014

Camilina sativa. Picture from Creative Commons

A major English GM research facility, the John Innes Centre (JIC), has applied to DEFRA to field test a new GM crop, 'false flax' (Camilina sativa) which has been genetically transformed to accumulate omega-3 long-chain fatty acids in its seed. 

Since Environment Secretary, Owen Paterson, will ultimately be responsible for approving the trial, permission is unlikely to be denied [1]. 

Omega-3 long-chain fatty acids in the form of 'EPA' and 'DHA' (eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexanenoic acid), are only synthesized by primitive plants, such as algae, and are a vital part of the diet of fish.  They are also credited with important health effects in the humans who eat the fish, especially oily fish such as salmon, tuna, mackerel, and sardines.  In particular, the JIC cites “strong evidence” that these fatty acids are linked to a lowered risk of death from coronary heart disease.  For this reason, official health advice is to eat two portions of oily fish a week.  All fish are, of course, a valuable source of protein.

In the wild, EPA and DHA in algae are passed up the food-chain from algae-feeders to the fish which eat them.  Farmed fish are fed on fish oil and meal from species of fish not suitable for food.  This production process is now reaching its limit and is unsustainable. 

The GM answer is an oilseed crop which generates 'fish oil' substitute to feed fish to feed us. 

The New Year GM pep talk

February 2014

No New Year would be complete without a GM pep-talk from our Environment Secretary, Owen Paterson, at the influential annual Oxford Farming Conference [1].  

As before, Paterson's seven paragraphs on GM buried in a sixty-paragraph speech became a major headline in a major national newspaper.  This seems to have been assisted by a particularly histrionic sound-byte suggesting that “Europe  risks becoming the Museum of World Farming as innovative companies make decisions to invest and develop new technologies in other markets”.  

GM salmon approved as 'safe' in US

January 2013

Photo by Michael Kappel on Flickr

No festive season would be complete without some GM 'bad' news being slipped out. Almost buried under the rush to prepare for Christmas was the announcement that GM fish have cleared the first hurdle on their way to the dinner table.

Nearly a quarter of a century after its creation, GM super-salmon have been approved 'safe' by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These novel fish have artificial growth-hormone genes inserted so the don't stop growing with the seasons and reach full size in half the time taken by their natural counterparts.

Fish oil without the fish doesn't work

December 2012

Fish oil capsules. Photo by jcoterhals on Flickr.

Scientists in Cambridge have found scientific support for what many would consider common-sense.

After reviewing 38 studies involving 800,000 people in 15 countries, they confirmed that a diet rich in fish consistently had a protective effect against stroke. Previously such findings have been attributed to the high omega-3 fatty acids in fish oils, and a huge industry has sprung up selling fish-oil capsules to health-conscious people. However, the scientists further concluded that taking such supplements made no difference in preventing strokes.

Roundup promotes parasites

March 2012

Photo of crop spraying by tpmartins on Flickr

Glyphosate, the active ingredient of 'Roundup', continues to present fresh causes for concern.

Roundup herbicide, used extensively on GM crops, has long been hyped as environmentally friendly: it is claimed not to linger in the ecosystem and to have low toxicity for animals. The bigger picture, however, seems to be much more complex, and much more damaging than previously assumed.

The GM salmon saga

February 2012

Photo by She Paused 4 Thought on Flickr

Anyone who's been following the GM food issue will be aware of periodic headlines announcing that GM salmon is about to hit shop shelves in the US at any time now ...

These 'novel' fish have been under development since the 1990s, so where are they?

Bt in the water

April 2011

Aquatic wildlife

In 2007, a US study looked at the potential for Bt corn by-products to poison waterways.

It found that GM plant detritus and pollen make their way into streams. Once there, they can be sequestered, consumed or carried considerable distances.

Insect life in the streams which consumed such GM plant debris had reduced growth and increased mortality. Other animals which feed on algae contaminated with Bt pollen were also noted to be at risk.

Sources:

• Adapted from 'Bt is a TOXIN' which first appeared on GM-free Scotland in September 2008
• E. J. Rosi-Marshall et al., Toxins in transgenic crop byproducts may affect headwater stream ecosystems, http://www.pnas.org//, received for review 5.03.07

Farmed fish

It's well-known that a large proportion of non-organic dairy, meat, eggs and poultry in the EU comes from animals raised on GM feed. Green groups have been campaigning long and hard to get this hidden source of GM out of our food-chain.

Less well-known is that fish reared in fish farms, are likely to have been fed GM soya and maize.

Studies have revealed that Atlantic salmon fed on a diet of Bt maize, MON810, have increased levels of stress-marker proteins and have altered proportions of white blood cell types indicative of an immune system reaction.

Like all intensively farmed animals, fish can often only be kept free from disease by treatment with chemicals, and are slaughtered long before they get old. Chronic health problems will not, therefore, be obvious in them.

Eating the flesh of stressed or unhealthy animals is not a healthy option.

Sources

• Adapted from 'FISH TOO' which first appeared on GM-free Scotland in December 2008
• Sagstad, et al., Evaluation of stress- and immune-response biomarkers in Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L., fed different levels of genetically modified maize Bt maize, compared with its near-isogenic parental line and a commercial suprex maize, Bull Acad Natl Med., April-May 2007