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Lawsuit Filed Against Unregulated GloFish
purduephotog writes "You may remember the infamous poll on glowing pets posted in response to the marketing of GloFish. The Center for Food Safety has filed a lawsuit asking to halt all sales of said fish until the government can properly regulate it. More information at ABCNews.com."
The suit alleges the hidden genes can threaten human and animal health if the biotech fish are released and consumed by other fish that eventually are eaten by humans.
I'm not a big fan of GM food but we've been monkeying with the food supply at a higher level for years: pesticides, fungicides, seedless fruits, selective breeding. More recently we have Monsanto and their 'Terminator Gene', etc.
Worrying about fish that may make it to the wild and into the food chain seems pretty tame in comparison.
(just had a thought.. someone with these GloFish(tm) should feed a few to their cat and watch for ill effects. I'd wager the only interesting bit would be the ability to scoop the litterbox in the dark.
Trolling is a art,
I say buy a whole bunch of them and release them into the wild. The aquatic equivalent of fireflys. Too awesome.
Just don't make any with frickin' laser beams, and I think we'll be just fine.
Why does the Center for Food Safety want to regulate my aquarium? How broke do they think I am?
[ Don't reply to this ]
Seriously though, in the 50 years (wild guess) that zebrafish have been imported for aquariums, not to mention all of the developmental biology research done on them, no one has found a zebrafish invdading a non-native watershed. Besides, I have to think that them glowing would lead to rapid predation.
--You're BOTH right. It's a floor wax AND a desert topping!
> > fish will mutate into a super fish and do things like file patent lawsuits?
> You obviously haven't been to many drunken parties in your life.
I've been to drunken parties, but no amount of alcohol has made me want to file a patent. *shudder*
"The FDA said last month it will not regulate the fish because it is not intended for human consumption. A spokeswoman said Wednesday the FDA stands by that statement." - from the ABCNEWS.com article.
It seems the FDA doesn't think anyone's going to eat glowing fish either.
I can see the adverts now:
One Fish, Two Fish
Red Fish, Blue Fish
Wouldn't you like
A mutant GloFish?
(with apologies to Dr. Seuss)
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
I had the same reaction, but you know someone is gonna do it anyway.
Too bad they can't solve this by putting a warning label on 'em...
Then again, if you're stupid enough to eat one you deserve what you get. That's just me, though. I mean, you can buy all sorts of dangerous pets and there's no law protecting you if you stick your hand in the cage, right? So what if they're genetically engineered, they're for looking not eating.
=Smidge=
only outlaws will eat GloFish.
If you follow the link, you'll find that Monsanto, for whom I have no great love either, has abandoned the project.
.
A friend thought of a genuinely interesting use for a crop with terminator genes:
Erosion control.
There are several species of fast-growing plant what would be very useful for preventing (say) an hilly area whose forest cover burned away from eroding, but who are also dangerous "alien" species.
Kudzu is one example; more subtle is the bizarre-looking "ice plant" that was imported to California for erosion control along railways but has become a pest.
It might be worth a research project to look into whether a fast-growing erosion control plant equipped with terminator genes could stabilize a burned-out area, retaining the soil for long enough for native plants to get a toe-hold. And then die out . .
Stefan