'Frankenfish' Salmon Moves Closer to FDA Approval

 

Genetically modified salmon could soon be making its way to your dinner plate if the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) grants final approval to a proposal from a Massachusetts bio tech firm. The fish, dubbed "Frankenfish" by its critics, is Atlantic salmon that has been modified with a growth hormone from Pacific chinook salmon and a gene from an eel-like fish known as ocean pout. The modifications result in a fish that matures twice as fast as regular Atlantic salmon. The FDA has already determined the fish, created by AquaBounty Technologies, poses no health or environmental risk, according to various media reports. The proposal is now under a 60-day period of public review—the final hurdle to FDA approval. The genetically modified fish tastes like regular salmon, meaning consumers probably will not be able to tell the difference—and ABC News reports the FDA is unlikely to require special labeling for the fish. Meanwhile, Washington is one of several states with pending initiatives on required labeling for GMOs—genetically modified organisms. Initiative 522 would require any food sold in Washington state and made with genetically engineered crops to be labeled.