FDA Considers Genetically Modified Food For Humans

In something out of a science fiction movie, the Food and Drug Administration is considering allowing genetically modified salmon to be eaten by humans.

Aqua Bounty is the first company being considered for approval, as the FDA wrote that modified fish are as safe to eat as regular fish.

The findings will be presented September 19 to a panel of scientific experts, that will advise top officials at the FDA whether to approve the modified fish.

AquAdvantage, as the fish is known, is an Atlantic salmon that has been given a gene from the ocean pout, an eel-like fish. This gene allows the salmon to grow twice its normal growth rat. It also has a growth hormone from the Chinook salmon.

Aqua Bounty was hopeful that this would be approved. "We've been studying this fish for more than 10 years," said Ronald L. Stotish, the company's president and CEO. "In characteristics, physiology, behavior, this is an Atlantic salmon. It looks like an Atlantic salmon. It tastes like an Atlantic salmon."

To read more about this controversial decision, please visit the original Washington Post article here.