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GE salmon: Let the debate begin

AquaBountyThe debate over genetically modified foods is likely to intensify following the FDA’s approval of genetically engineered salmon. It’s the first time a genetically engineered animal has been approved for human consumption.

The organization called Friends of the Earth (FOE) has labeled the new product “frankenfish” and calls FDA’s approval “flawed and irresponsible”. FOE says a growing body of science suggests that GMO salmon may pose serious environmental and public health risks.

But Steve Kopperud, Brownfield public policy analyst and a government affairs representative for AquaBounty Technologies–the company that developed the salmon–sees it differently.

“The opponents of biotechnology, generally, are going to seize on this as the coming of the end when it comes to food safety,” says Kopperud. “My argument would be that it is the beginning of applying a technology in ways in which it can benefit parts of the world that right now can’t get animal protein.”

Kopperud says that would include Africa and parts of Latin American and Asia.

“The technology that allowed up to come forward with AquAdvantage Salmon is the technology that those nations have been looking for relative to sustainability and self-sufficiency when it comes to protein production,” he says. “I think that is what has to be kept at the forefront of the discussion, not a lot of luddites running around with press releases screaming the sky is falling.”

In its announcement, the FDA said that food from AquAdvantage Salmon is “safe to eat and as nutritious as food from other non-GE Atlantic salmon”.

AUDIO: Steve Kopperud

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