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Genetically engineered foods: Murky waters worth diving into?
The case for genetically modified salmon
Genetic modification of food animals can result in valuable traits such as increased productivity, nutritional value and environmental advantage. Even when innovative genomic approaches and genetic engineering (GE) techniques result in such advantages, getting regulatory and public acceptance is still a huge challenge.
Recent headlines suggest that, although this field is an uphill battle, there are compelling reasons for Canadian innovators to continue to move forward.
AquAdvantage® salmon (developed by AquaBounty Technologies Inc, based on technology developed by Canadian researchers) illustrates the challenges GE products face. Although this fast-growing, nutritionally equivalent GE salmon seems poised to be approved for human consumption by the FDA, opposition to the product is high. In addition to public protests, US senators reintroduced a bill to ban the fish. Although the salmon is reportedly reproductively sterile (guarding against breeding with wild populations) and higher productivity could help decrease the environmental strains of overfishing, it is feared that these salmon will threaten natural fish stocks and harm the environment.
Here in Canada, there has also been opposition to the product given that Health Canada is reportedly reviewing the GE salmon as well. With this opposition, the future of the product seems unclear.
Given these challenges, why should Canadian innovators continue in this field?
Recent headlines suggest that given the coming food crisis, this is actually the time to ramp up agriculture and food research. Canada is strong in agriculture and food innovation, as illustrated by the example above, and could therefore be a leader in this field if given the required resources. Clearly, food and environmental safety concerns are valid and must be rigorously studied and public opinions respected. However, feeding the world in a sustainable manner is going to take innovative approaches and GE technologies should be considered a possible part of the solution.
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Helen Petropoulos
Helen Petropoulos is part of the Business Development team at the Ontario Genomics Institute (OGI). She helps Ontario scientists and biotech companies bridge the gap between basic research and commercialization. She’s also worked in consulting and in the pharmaceutical industry as a postdoctoral fellow.
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