(credit: Artizone/Flickr ) After two decades of deliberation, the Food and Drug Administration has approved the first ever genetically engineered food animal, a fast-growing Atlantic Salmon called AquAdvantage salmon. According the agency, which announced the approval Thursday , the modified salmon are safe to eat, equally nutritious as other salmon, and should pose no threat to the environment. First created in 1989 and submitted to the agency for approval in 1995, the Atlantic salmon are modified to carry a growth hormone gene from Chinook salmon. That gene is further engineered to be under the control of a tiny bit of DNA, called a promoter, from the eel-like ocean pout fish. In general, DNA promoters are non-coding sequences that help control the expression level of a gene—how much protein product is synthesized from the gene. With the engineered promoter boosting hormone production, the modified salmon grow to market-size in about half the time of conventional Atlantic salmon. Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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FDA approves first GM food animal—Atlantic salmon
