Coming soon to a dinner table near you -- Blinky

[Ombligo]

The Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday that it has approved the first genetically modified food animal – the AquAdvantage salmon. The fast-growing variety of salmon is as nutritious and safe to eat as any other Atlantic salmon, according to the FDA. The salmon is produced by AquaBounty Technologies, a Massachusetts biotechnology company.

The salmon was produced by inserting a growth hormone gene from a Chinook salmon, as well as a gene from the ocean pout, which make the animal grow faster.

[steve...]

I found this on Wikipedia: AquAdvantage salmon

Production

AquaAdvantage built a 100-ton/year aquaculture facility in landlocked highlands in Panama, a fraction of the 230,000 ton global output of farmed Atlantic salmon.

Concerns

Aquaculture that uses conventionally bred salmon, mostly Atlantic salmon, cultivates the fish in net pens. In North America, this occurs mostly in coastal waters off Washington State, British Columbia and Maine. However, the application for FDA approval of AquAdvantage salmon specified land-based tank cultivation with no ocean involvement.

Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Aldi, and other grocery stores throughout the country have announced that they would not offer AquAdvantage.

[cbelt3]

I read this book. Which talks about a VERY similar creature, and its possible effect on pelagic environments WHEN it gets into the ocean.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-399-15041-8

I don't care what precautions are put in place. SOME moron will 'try it out' and it will get into the global ecosystem.

"Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should."

[SteveG]

With the new growth gene, it takes specially trained personnel to harvest them.