Understanding Government

Genetically modified salmon, designed to grow faster with the injection of growth hormone genes from another species, is likely to win approval for human consumption from the federal Food and Drug Administration this coming weekend, reports Susanne Rust of CaliforniaWatch.

The panel will also determine what, if any consumer labeling will be required for the creature. If the non-debate over adding radiation to ground beef is any indication, consumers will be left in the dark.

Enviros and other opponents claim the fast growing creature could outcompete wild species and lead to their extinction.

Proponents from the company that developed the organism say they will only allow it to be raised in inland facilities.  As Rust reports, not everyone is reassured:

Charles Margulis, communications director for the Center for Environmental Health, an organization opposed to FDA approval, said the risks are too great and the system too unwieldy to feel reassured by these safeguards.

“If the FDA can’t track chicken eggs, you think they’re going to be able to track fish eggs?” he said.

As world population growth continues to outpace increases in food yields in the long term, we all will become ever more dependent on scientific breakthroughs to feed ourselves.  But as systems grow more interconnected and complex, the possibility of a catastrophic failure also increases.