Genetically Modified Fish Illegal?

[BelleAmour]

Hope this isn't a repost! This can be deleted if it's old news I suppose.

http/www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/...m.php?news=1224

It's about those glofish danios. According to this, they are actually illegal to sell in the UK and Germany!

German authorities are concerned that aquarium fish suppliers are smuggling illegal genetically modified fluorescent ornamental fish into the country.

According to a report from Spiegel Online International, GM Zebra danios were recently found on sale at a specialist aquarium fish retailer in Kiel, northern Germany.

Schleswig-Holstein Ministry of Agriculture officials confirmed that the fish were genetically modified. Christian Seyfert told the German news agency DPA that dealers at an ornamental fish show had tried to sell the fish, but had been banned from the event and were reported to the district veterinary office.

Seyfert said that the GM fish had been smuggled into Germany via Poland, but probably came from exporters in Asia.

Spiegel Online International says that German suppliers illegally trading in the fish face fines of up to 50,000 Euros and prison sentences of up to five years.

Genetically modified fish are also illegal in the UK.

Practical Fishkeeping exclusively reported last week that UK authorities had also become concerned about the presence of suspected GM fish being sold in the UK aquarium trade, after reports we published last year indicating that the Red danios currently on sale may be genetically modified or dyed.

DEFRA has requested that importers voluntarily stop importing Red danios, or other recently available fluorescent danio varieties.

Anyone importing the fish during the period in which imports are suspended could leave themselves open to prosecution if the fish are later confirmed to be genetically modified.

 

[cheesy feet]

Yeh,which is dam well good!

 

[BelleAmour]

Yep! Unfortuneately, they aren't illegal here in the US. I've seen them around, they look very unnatural!

 

[Lynden]

Don't really see why genetically modified fishes are so bad. It does not harm the animal (as far as I know)... there is little or no risk of them escaping into the wild and forming a viable population... and they are, well, cool. We eat genetically modified plants; why should keeping a modified pet fish be any different?

If they were dyed, that would be a different story...

-Lynden

 

[BelleAmour]

Don't really see why genetically modified fishes are so bad. It does not harm the animal (as far as I know)... there is little or no risk of them escaping into the wild and forming a viable population... and they are, well, cool. We eat genetically modified plants; why should keeping a modified pet fish be any different?

If they were dyed, that would be a different story...

-Lynden

I'm not sure why they are illegal either. I just don't think they look quite right.

 

[Lynden]

Don't really see why genetically modified fishes are so bad. It does not harm the animal (as far as I know)... there is little or no risk of them escaping into the wild and forming a viable population... and they are, well, cool. We eat genetically modified plants; why should keeping a modified pet fish be any different?

If they were dyed, that would be a different story...

-Lynden

I'm not sure why they are illegal either. I just don't think they look quite right.

Perhaps... but does a goldfish, shaped like an egg, googly-eyed, lacking a dorsal fin, with a caudal fin the size of a blanket and a bubbly growth on it's head so big that it obstructs the fish's vision look any more natural? Last time I checked, selectively bred goldfish were acceptable and legal... seems wrong to me that a perfectly harmless modification (glofish) is illegal while a harmful one is perfectly "fine".

 

[steve_m]

Lol Has any one not watched Animal Farm on UK TV monday night 21:00 . The glow in the dark danios where on last week. Not to mention the glow in the dark Pigs,bunnys and mice. Very interesting and totaly safe according to that show.

 

[OohFeeshy]

I missed that one, saw the others though. I think the bloke they had arguing against GM was a bit of a numpty though.

 

[jamie2010]

bought my younglings some gm danios from swallows in rayliegh a few months ago.
if they are illegal then they arent taking much notice of the law

 

[matt295]

im in the us and i have actually kept these guys. they are no different than normal danios but are differently colored.
like lynden said, goldfish look wierd too but lots of people kep them and nothing is wrong with it so whats so bad about these guys?

 

[scorphonic]

I dont see the problem either. I do GM work on mice from time to time so dont see a problem with doing it on fish.

 

[dc3]

The glow danios seem to function no differently from non-GM zebras, and there isn't any evidence showing that the mods to them have any health consequences - so what's with all the fuss? Like someone pointed out - those "unnatural" looking goldfish in the other hand look like a disaster - I saw something called a star-gazer - the fish looks upwards, making forward in-line swimming quite impossible. IMO - THAT is what should be banned if anything is gonna be stopped. Dyeing and GM-ing a fish are quite different - problem is too many people don't know the difference before jumping around making a noise...