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TRANSGENESIS TOUTED AS SOLUTION TO FISH SHORTAGES



For your info - P. Dines
P. S. At what point do we say "this is just too much"?  We kill the
existing fish with pollution, then want to replace them with corporate
products, feeling we can engineer better than G-d. Is there value to
preserving wild fish instead? Do we want a world where all life are
corporate products while the wild and natural varieties - with qualities
and interactions we know so little about - wither away...?

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  Intellectual Property & Biodiversity News - Vol. 6, Number 7    May 28,
1997
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TRANSGENESIS TOUTED AS SOLUTION TO FISH SHORTAGES
Trangenic fish are being developed by several organizations to stock
aquaculture farms. These fish are created with specific traits such as
enhanced growth rates, increased product efficiency, disease resistance and
expanded ecological ranges. To achieve these desired traits, the fish eggs
are injected or fused with the DNA of other species. One of the genes
experimented with, is the human growth hormone gene. This gene has been
inserted into the common carp, crucian carp and loach, resulting in a
dramatic increase in the growth of these fish. 

Another trait that is being experimented with, is the insertion of a
coldwater tolerance gene from a fish, such as the ocean pout, into the
Atlantic salmon. By doing this, the researchers expect to extend the range
of the salmon to the coastal regions in northern Canada. The researchers
working on these transgenic fish freely admit that an accidental release
into the natural environment is a possibility, and that the methods of
minimizing the damage from such an occurrence need to be addressed.   

Choy L. Hew and Garth Fletcher, "Transgenic Fish for Aquaculture,"
CHEMISTRY & INDUSTRY, April 21, 1997.

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