Fiddling with the fish: GM salmon closer to approval
Baked, grilled, fried, smoked, broiled or boiled, there's no wrong way to serve salmon--it's even delicious raw, as sushi and sashimi.
There's just one way you don't want your salmon, and that's genetically modified.
But GM fish could soon be the catch of the day... and if the FDA has its way, you won't even know when you're eating it.
The feds are pushing forward with a plan to approve a new kind of salmon--a miniature sea monster with borrowed DNA that allow it to grow faster, using less food.
And worse yet, the feds say that if and when they approve it (bet on "when" and not "if"), it won't be labeled.
Regardless of how you feel about GM foods, that just has to rub your scales the wrong way.
If nothing else, consumers should have the right to know what they're eating, and the ability to decide for themselves if they want to eat it--especially when doing so means taking part in one of the biggest mass health experiments in history.
And that's because no one can say for sure if these fish are safe or what will happen when millions of people start eating them.
Of the four studies disclosed by the FDA, one is from nearly two decades ago, and the three others are very small studies provided by the company that designed the fish.
Let me guess: They think the fish are just great.
What's more, the feds won't even share all the data they have on these fish. They say they need to protect the company's intellectual property... so just trust in your government to make the right decision for you.
You'll have to pardon me for not playing along--and I'm not alone. Even members of the FDA's advisory committee are having a hard time swallowing this one.
"I do get heartburn when we're going to allow post-market surveillance to finalize our safety evaluation," committee member Michael D. Apley, a pharmacology expert at Kansas State University, told the New York Times.
And if he gets heartburn thinking about it... imagine what could happen to the people who actually eat these things. All the antacid in the world may not be able to undo the damage.
Analysts believe these fish could reach the market within two years... and the clock starts ticking now.
In the meantime, be sure to enjoy your salmon while the real McCoy is still available. Ounce for ounce, it offers the healthiest bang for your seafood buck.
Salmon is naturally high in the omega-3 fatty acids your body needs. In fact, most fish can't come within a fin of it when it comes to omega-3--just four ounces of salmon can even top the amounts in many fish oil supplements.
Better still, it's got some of the lowest mercury levels of any fish.
You might say good health is in its DNA... no tampering necessary.
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Edward Martin writes House Calls, a daily letter chronicling the most cutting-edge alternative methods for beating diabetes and cancer, to the latest FDA foul-ups and Big Pharma conspiracies.
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Comments
Anonymous
What in tar nation is wrong with these people, they add junk to our water they contaminate our food supply with pesticides, now GMO foods, apparently they think we were created in a lab along with all these experimental rats, enough is enough, let us get back to basics and stop all this nonsense, other governments in this world are getting rid of all this crappola, but in the good ole USA I guess we can not live without poison. JAM
charles pavlich
one would think out politicians would get togeather, and defeat this practice, after all they eat fish, and their grandchildren will as well, is lining their pockets more important than their flesh and blood?
Anonymous
Any bets that the company modifying the fish will be found to also have a large interest in the pharmacuetical industry? Step one: Feed massive doses of "safe & altered" food to the public.
Step two: "Discover" a pill/med that will counteract any side affects suffered from eating above mentioned "fish".
Step three: Work furiosly to create medication to alleviate side affects from above mentioned pill.
Step Four: Repeat step 3 as needed.
Step Five: Continue to lie to the public that you have their best interests in mind everytime the FDA approves and lies about yet another breakthrough or medication.
This cycle goes on and on. And yet there are those among us that do not understand why turning your health over to the government is a really insane idea. Remember that the FDA is an acronym for "Farma's Designated Assassins". The FDA is so deep in big Pharma's and Corporate America's pockets it is scary. The least they MUST do is require labels on the engineered fish, but then who would eat this garbage? As a final note: remember what happens when you try to fool Mother Nature, she has a habit of making a fool of us. What happens when the GM fish escape and mix with the natural world?
EddieW
We have our FDA (Federal DEATH Administration) and they are wanting people sicker, to bolster Big Pharma's profits, or even dying...to support the Eugenics movement!! So we have Fluoride in our water, plus many prescription drugs now!! EPA has stated they would not regulate toxins in water!!since so much radioactivity!! Chem sprays are being used daily in many cities around the country...killing many plants and animals in the process, and making people sicker. Time for a REAL change!!! Now we have to contend with mobile x-ray machines at malls, and checking our homes for guns!! better get some cardboard and tin foil...make it look like the biggest gun safe in town!!
Anonymous
Who dreams up this crap anyway.
Stuff like this has got to come from sick minds.
"What happens when the GM fish escape and mix with the natural world?"
Who knows ? Have not seen a study on THAT !
Remember KILLER BEES. We have them all over this area.
HENRY
MOST PEOPLE ARE ACCUSTOMED TO COMPLAIN TO THE AGENCY NAME ( FDA ). HOWEVER, WE SHOULD IDENTIFY AND REFER TOTHE INDIVIDUAL NAME OF DECISION MAKER WHO IS USUALLY A POLITICAL APPOINTEE WITH A BIASED AGENDA.
THEY COULD BE THE COMMISSIONER OR IMMEDIATE SUBORINATES WHO AT TIMES OVERRIDE THE SCIENTISTS WHO DO THE ACTUAL RESEARCH WITH OCCASIONAL NEGATIVE AND CONTRARY CONCLUSIONS.
THESE POLITICAL APPOINTEES USUALLY END UP EMPLOYED BY THE SPECIFIC INDUSTRY WHO THEY PREVIOUSLY RULED IN FAVOR OF.
WE MUST MAKE ACCOUNTABLE AND REQUIRE MORE TRANSPARENCY FROM THESE FEW POLITICAL APPOINTEES, WHO AFFECT MILLIONS OF PEOPLE, AND NOT ALLOW THEM TO HIDE BEHIND THE "FDA" LABEL.
THEIR DECISIONS ARE PRIMARILY FOR THE PHARMACUETICAL AND OTHER FOOD RELATED COMPANIES STRICTLY TO PROTECT AND INSURE THEIR PROFITS AT THE EXPENSE OF THE HEALTH OF AVERAGE CITIZENS.
THERE SHOULD BE A MORE ORGANIZED AGGRESIVE APPROACH TO CONFRONT THESE FEW INDIVIDUAL APPOINTED ULTIMATE DECISION MAKERS AND HAVE THEM EXPLAIN AND JUSTIFY ANY OVERRIDE OF THEIR SCIENTISTS WHO ARE SOMETIMES INTIMIDATED BY THEIR APPOINTED OFFICIALS INTO CHANGING THEIR NEGATIVE INTO POSITIVE CONCLUSIONS.
Antonio
Can you stop immediately the approval of GM foods until all the members of the FDA and their Families test the food for 15 years and than see if there is no side effects or damage to them. This is to be monitored by a panel of supervisors made up of people of integrity in favour of GM foods and against GM foods. GM foods should be labeled as such and than the people can make a decision by themselves. Will it ever happen that people will be more important than money? From what I read it looks like the FDA is not doing its job of protecting the people, in this case, of the United States of America. Maybe I should be given the job to do just that.
JD
As I have said before: The FDA sucks. The more the government takes from us in taxes the more they create agencies and rules to control us, all for the benefit of the the corporations.
Don't be surprised if some day these people and their chemical friends are put on trial for crimes against humanity.
Gertrude "Trudy"
Are omega-3's really destroyed by heat as some sources say? What about freezing? If so, canned or frozen is a waste of $$. And if, so, I hate eating raw fish. Now what?
AND--why salmon? A table of fish rich in omega 3's shows mackerel to be 5 times O-3 rich than the runner-up, and salmon is way down the scale from them.
I also learned lately that companies pay FDA for each thing it OK's of theirs. And that the FDA now have companies do their own quality/safety testing, and accept whatever they say--and that FDA has as often as not directly instructed scientists to phony up their reports to make sure the item does pass. FDA requires NO test reports at all if the item is grown or made overseas--and many US companies do that. USDA still does its own quality testing and is under fire for having too large a budget because of that.
AND--NONE of the GMO items sold in the US today have ever been tested as safe for human consumption. What we DO now know is that in mice, by the 3rd generation, totally GMO-fed mice are totally sterile. Scientists say this hasn't been tested on humans, for several obvious reasons, but they feel that the mouse results would apply to humans. Beets & beet sugar, corn and all corn products, etc.--GMO's!!
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