Political Quotes

“I include the following articles for the Record. Biosafety Assessment of Aquatic GMOs: The Case of Transgenic Fish (By Anne R. Kapuscinski) A growing number of groups around the world are pursuing research and development of transgenic fish, shellfish, and algae. Transgenic Atlantic salmon are poised to be one of the first transgenic animals farmed for human consumption. Ecological risk assessments of transgenic aquatic organisms have been comparatively underfunded and understudied. Comparisons of the few risk assessment studies on transgenic fish confirm the need to conduct case-by-case risk assessment of each line of transgenic organism. Risk assessment should focus on tests for intended and unintended changes in six components of fitness. These include viability, fecundity, fertility, longevity, mating success, and developmental time. Muir and Howard have shown the critical importance of testing for the joint effects of changes in these fitness components because disadvantages in one fitness trait can be offset by advantages in another fitness trait. For instance, the reduced viability of growth-enhanced transgenic fish could be offset by increased mating advantage of larger transgenic adults, possibly driving a wild population towards extinction (the Trojan gene effect). Risk assessments need to actively search for this and other biologically feasible off-setting mechanisms.”