A Gene Edited Salmon’s 30-Year Struggle for Approval
“Frankenfish” is fast-growing, healthy, and, as it were, terrifying
The year was 1989. Researchers at Memorial University had successfully managed to genetically engineer a salmon to grow quicker than ordinary Atlantic salmons. The fish was cheaper to produce than other salmons, and so a company was formed to commercially the salmon just two years later.
What followed was a 30-year struggle to make this lab-raised animal available for consumer consumption. Constantly dancing between government approval and public outrage, this polarizing salmon horrified consumers to the point where grocery stores promised never to sell it.
This is the story of a gene edited salmon.
A fast-growing salmon
You can tell that the company was formed in the 1990s just by reading its name: AquaBounty Technologies. This company used genetic engineering to create the protagonist of this story, which they have been breeding ever since. The salmon grows really fast. An ordinary salmon could take three years to grow, while AquaBounty’s fish grows to full…
