Is GMO salmon really safe to eat?
Re Modified salmon set for kitchen table, May 20 It seems yet again that Health Canada has abdicated its responsibility to ensure the safety of Canada’s food chain, by declaring that the “GMO (genetically modified organism) salmon is as safe and nutritious for humans and livestock as conventional salmon,” and can now be sold in this country.
What is the hurry? Where is the safety data from independent science? It appears that Health Canada, just like its counterpart in the U.S., the FDA, caved in to pressure and deception tactics from a powerful international biotech lobby, instead of listening to independent science — though Health Canada took six months longer to reach its unwelcome conclusion.
Eric Hoffman, of Friends of the Earth, U.S., noted that the insertion of ocean-pout DNA into genetically engineered salmon causes the production of growth hormone year-round. Yet no long-term safety tests were conducted to determine the potential negative consequences on public health of this genetic aberration.
Further, both the FDA and Health Canada ignored warnings from Canadian government research scientists (Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Office of Aquatic Biotechnology, Draft Risk Review, 2013). These scientists found significant problems with the genetically engineered (GE) fish, including greater susceptibility to disease (which may require the use of potent antibiotics), and widely inconsistent growth rates.
It was also noted that the GE fish may produce a hormone that can increase cancer risk in humans if they consume the fish.
Finally, the ultimate and least understood risk of genetic engineering (some geneticists call it “genetic tinkering”) is that the self-regulating system of genetic “transcription factors,” or TF, are generally ignored (and certainly not controlled) when transgenic organisms are “created” in the lab.
These TFs are special natural or “native” proteins in all living organisms that turn genes on and/or off, depending on the “need” signal. Without these miraculous little on/off switches, cells and tissues in GMOs can get out of control and produce unintended consequences, like tumours, toxins, allergens, etc., especially downstream in the food chain.
Concerning the GMO salmon, in fact with all GMO foods, Health Canada owes it to Canadians to insure the safety of our food in accordance with our laws, the Food and Drug Act; nothing more and nothing less. John Balatinecz, Toronto