Genetic enhanced Salmon nearing approval

[tjus77]

America (and me) are obese because we eat too much fast and pre-processed food and TOO much of it in one sitting. Not to mention huge amounts of food deep fried or wrapped in bacon.

Growth hormones and pesticides are killing us also, but I am not paying 3x the price for organic food on any level. We may be producing safer food because of how we process, store and preserve it, but we are certainly not eating healthier than our forefathers did.

Something genetically enhanced is just as bad as white flour and corn sweetner... the structure has changed and how it reacts in our bodies will change. Sorry, I am learning to eat healthier and it is a biatch to find variety sometimes.

[kcchiefdav]

To just assume that something that is different is inherently bad for us is foolish. But to assume that something which is genetically enhanced is all that different is also foolish. Genetically enhancing fish(or anything else for that matter) is a more efficient way of breeding animals in such a way that boosts the animals' desired characteristics. Instead of having the big fish breed with the other big fish to make more big fish, someone has mapped the genome and turned on the big fish gene in all the fish...it's not a problem in my eyes.

[Bartstop]

At the very least they should be required to label it "genetically enhanced" so the consumer can make his/her own choice.

In my opinion, the problem lies with the special interest groups and their lobbyists. The politicians are easy to hate but in the end, both parties take special interest money. It really is corruption.

A big part of a politicians job is to get re-elected and it takes money to do that. The politicians are simply trying to raise more money than the other guy and that's where the lobbyists come in. They can bring donations. So, this sets up a conflict of interests. Represent the peoples interests and hope everyone is paying attention to your votes (which we don't), or represent the special interests that will fund your re-election?

Until we get the special interest money out of Washington, the downward spiral of this country will continue.


Just my .02


Bartstop

[PTSidehow]

Originally Posted by Bartstop

At the very least they should be required to label it "genetically enhanced" so the consumer can make his/her own choice.

This is my only concern, that it should be on the label. So the consumer can make a decision. I buy wild caught when I can find it.

[BBQ Grail]

Does this mean salmon with big breasts or what?

[deguerre]

Salmon boobies. That's a good one.

[landarc]

The sooner all of us start demanding quality food sources, the sooner we get them cheaper.

Oh, and I resent the following statement, even as I sit here eating cold fried chicken for breakfast. I am not obese, I have large bones.

Originally Posted by tjus77

America (and me) are obese because we eat too much fast and pre-processed food and TOO much of it in one sitting. Not to mention huge amounts of food deep fried or wrapped in bacon.

[BBQ Grail]

Originally Posted by tjus77

America (and me) are obese because we eat too much fast and pre-processed food and TOO much of it in one sitting. Not to mention huge amounts of food deep fried or wrapped in bacon.
.

MOINK Balls don't make people fat...taste buds do...

[jtphillips]

Kcchiefdav, it is a fact that the number of E. Coli outbreaks has risen drastically over the last few decades. Why? Because cattle are fed grain. Did we have massive E. Coli outbreaks fifty years ago? NO. Every year you see news headlines showing mass quantities of beef being tainted by E. Coli that has to be recalled. If that isn't bad enough, E. Coli is making its way into plants that we eat also.
As far as your statement of grain being a plant, I suggest you study up on your botanics. There is a definite distinction between a vegetable and a grain. As far as what cattles are fed (dried GRAIN), they eat grain...not vegetables. Granted, the corn humans eat is a vegetable. Cattle are not designed to eat grain; period. Cattle would eventually die on an all grain diet. Now you tell me if they are made to eat only grain.
As far as your last argument on people demanding beef so don't blame the producers, that is your perogative. Just because people demand cigarettes doesn't mean it is ok to produce them. I challenge you to walk into a Tyson farm that grows chickens and see how they are treated. If you can, as a moral agent, still look at mass produced chicken the same way, and, if you don't have any ethical dilemas result because of the experience, then go ahead and keep eating it. However, if you want to take the stance that it is ok to treat animals like inanimate objects of protoplasm just for our own selfish interest, then at least support your argument.

**I want to make it clear that I am in no way trying to offend anyone on this forum, nor have I been offened. If I disagree I am doing it respectfully. We all have our own opinions.

[devious]

to quote the great Ron Bergundy "agree to disagree"

[McGurk]

[jswordy]

Salmon is a funny foodstuff, and the food regs are funnier still (and I say that as someone who has been in the animal protein production business for 20 years).

You have your wild salmon and your farmed salmon. Farmed salmon is 80% of the supply, and has been found in numerous studies to contain elevated PCBs. Wild salmon is 20% of the supply, has better PCB concentrations.

Now, if you buy "Alaskan salmon," thinking it is wild, it may not be. It must be "Alaskan Wild Salmon" to be wild. They sell farmed Alaskan salmon to people who think they are getting wild because it is from Alaska. Nope!

"Fresh" salmon is actually salmon that has never been frozen. The word "fresh" has no link whatsoever to the freshness of the meat. Use the old quality control on the front of your face. If it smells like fish, then it is NOT fresh.

As far as grass-fed beef, we bought some roasts from a farmer here who does it right, and I will tell you this much: That beef reminded me of what beef used to taste like, back when I was a kid 40 years ago. It is amazing how much our food has changed in those years.

On food production, we are tops. We know how to wrestle the most out of the least inputs, and a lot of farmers have been drawn into that system that merits a man solely by how much quantity he produces. To reach higher in production, we have done some amazing things, like feedlots in which cows are intentionally forced into an acidosis situation with more grain ration than they normally would consume, because acidosis creates gain faster. They then are medicated for the effect on their digestive tracts. There was actually a vet college study out two years ago about feedlots using those plastic pot scrubbers in the rumens of cows because they found if those were put in there, the cows could consume more grains in the diet with less acidosis. How's that sound to you? Natural? How about cows eating chicken feathers? Or how about cows being bred to fit a physical phenotype that experience has shown to do better on all-grain diets?

But on quality, we are falling shorter every year. That is why labels on some "fresh" beef cuts in your grocery display now say "Water and flavoring added." Why?

The feedlot and packing industry has grown more and more concentrated, and in doing so we may have gained production efficiencies, but we are losing quality. Sure, it's "safe," meaning by USDA standards it won't kill you or make you sick at the moment you eat it, but what does it do down the road when you consume meat from many calves that have been farm ear-implanted with more than the prescribed number of hormone pellets to supposedly make them grow out faster? Remember, the farmer is rewarded for growing faster, not for what effect the hormones will have on you.

I get all the farm magazines, from the chemical industry supported, production is tops pubs all the way over to the grass farmer mags. There are a number of good questions raised by the way we do things now, and we presently answer those by finding out which farm groups and industries have the most money, and favoring them politically. I'm not sure that's a good way to explore the issues in the long run.

[gotwood]

Human population is out of control............

Soylent Green anyone???

[MRI_Guy]

I don't eat farmed salmon and I don't eat Atlantic salmon. PERIOD.

I know EXACTLY where my salmon & halibut comes from. I will never serve farmed or Atlantic salmon to my friends or family.

Wild Alaskan salmon has kept my father's family alive for generations - I am not about to disrespect his heritage.

[jtphillips]

JS Wordy: thank you for your post. You make some very GREAT points.