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The FDA just approved the first GMO animal for human consumption – AquAdvantage Salmon. Those ideologically opposed to GMOs have predictably opposed this approval. . .
This is a great example of how ideological thinking leads to irrational and self-contradictory positions. Other than the fact that they were produced using genetic modification technology, these salmon are a wet dream (pun intended) of sustainable and environmentally friendly food production.
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Opposition to GMO salmon for environmental reasons makes no sense. Fish farming is already a promising method for producing animal protein, and specifically fish protein, in a sustainable way. There is room for improvement, and this 20% increase in growth efficiency is one.
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The AqaAdvantage salmon is not going to save the world. It is one incremental step in increasing the efficiency of our entire food production system. Increasing that efficiency is vital if we want to create a sustainable way of feeding a population over 7 billion and growing.
We need to explore and use every technology and every tool at our disposal to continually increase food production efficiency – breeding, hybrids, and specific genetic modification.
Opposition to the latter for essentially emotional reasons results in taking positions that are actually harmful to the environment, all the while pretending to defend it.
Read full, original post: Anti-Environmental Opposition to GMO Salmon
