New Glofish

[Devilish Angelfish]

They are definitely fertile. That is how the company breeds them. They only have to modify one (or a few) to start a founding population, the rest are all descendents of the original(s).

It is illegal to sell them. It is also illegal to breed them.

Ok, thank you. Wasn't sure how the company regenerated its stock - could've been buying 'em from an alien mother ship, for all i knew LOL. My friend bred them simply because he was told he couldn't - an unfortunate human habit. The fish bred, I'd imagine, just because they could (another bad human habit, IMO ) Short of putting a little sign in their tank saying "No Breeding", I doubt you could stop 'em! But seriously, it just annoys me when companys try to patent natural fuctions/instincts. Like crop seed supply companys that breed crops that will not reproduce, thus ensuring the buyer must buy new seeds every year. And florist supply flower breeders who breed plants that cannot be grown from cuttings, thus ensuring the flower recipient can't grow the flowers at home. I don't much care for the practice of creating genetic freaks either. Ok a sheep and a goat can naturally cross breed. But putting jelly-fish genes into a pig or tomato so it can glow is just wrong. Like Baccus said "just because we can, doesnt mean we SHOULD".....

 

[Gvilleguy]

Well if you don't like it in fish, you might really not like the next step that has been taken with kittens...

Glowing Kittens

 

[fidjet2]

I didn't mind the glofish but that kitten just looks plain weird i can't imagine my kitten being glo in the dark

 

[Devilish Angelfish]

Well if you don't like it in fish, you might really not like the next step that has been taken with kittens...

Glowing Kittens

*tries to think of a forum-safe expletive.....fails*

Good grief my cat scares the hell outta me NOW!! I get up in the middle of the night and wander blindly to the bathroom in the dark and she leaps out at me from under the couch or behind the computer. Sheesh. Could you imagine waking up to THAT peering into your face saying "feedmefeedmefeedmefeedme"? Halloween cat *shudder*

 

[mike455555]

i love this topic...

i dont get how a company can say no breeding the fish? its not like we control them... id like to find out more about them to be honest... like there original use.. also why is it illegal in the uk? i want some ;p

i love the cat... when do we get glow in the dark dogs =]

 

[fluttermoth]

Their oriniganl purpose was to monitor water pollution, the idea being that you could add the fish to a body of water, and then, instead of having to try and catch and count how many survived, you could just illuminate the water with UV light and see (roughly) how many fish were left.

Of course the company can't control the fish's breeding and I think they would probably be hard pushed to prosecute you if they just bred in the tank, but they are copyrighted, so you would be in trouble if you sold them for profit.

All genetically modified organisms are illegal in the UK, except under special licence for research; a lot of people don't agree with it and are worried about what effect it could have on the enviroment if the GM plants or animals escaped and bred with wild populations.

 

[Devilish Angelfish]

Their oriniganl purpose was to monitor water pollution, the idea being that you could add the fish to a body of water, and then, instead of having to try and catch and count how many survived, you could just illuminate the water with UV light and see (roughly) how many fish were left.

Of course the company can't control the fish's breeding and I think they would probably be hard pushed to prosecute you if they just bred in the tank, but they are copyrighted, so you would be in trouble if you sold them for profit.

All genetically modified organisms are illegal in the UK, except under special licence for research; a lot of people don't agree with it and are worried about what effect it could have on the enviroment if the GM plants or animals escaped and bred with wild populations.

So, basically, they genetically modified a species because humans were to lazy to bothercounting? *mutters to self*
We don't have the glofish here in Oz either - 1st I saw them was in the US. We have very very strict quarantine rules here and a lot of the cool animals/fish/birds/plants that you can keep overseas just aren't allowed here. Irritating in a lot of ways coz I would kill to keep a pet tiger
but I'm glad in other ways coz here too, many people were and are worried about the GM issue

 

[mike455555]

there really isent an issue with GM... its just worrys to be honest... release a glow fish in the wild in the uk... it will live for a week max ... other than that what other risks are there? ... it might attack you? ... i dont see a problem with GM at all... i think it just adds a spark to life. (although i can see that people might think its wrong to play with nature but we dig up oil destroy natural habitats for our own gain anyway)

 

[Devilish Angelfish]

there really isent an issue with GM... its just worrys to be honest... release a glow fish in the wild in the uk... it will live for a week max ... other than that what other risks are there? ... it might attack you? ... i dont see a problem with GM at all... i think it just adds a spark to life. (although i can see that people might think its wrong to play with nature but we dig up oil destroy natural habitats for our own gain anyway)

The issue I was thinking of was more to do with foods humans eat - in Australia, we farm many crop foods and the concern was (and is) that pollen from GM crops would blow onto non-GM crops and pollute the original species. The worry with any GM food or animal is that we don't know enough about the genes that are carried along with the specific one that is being transferred to another species. Just say the gene for extreme depression or maybe violent aggression is a hidden trait with the "glow" gene. Not an issue for jelly-fish, one would think but certainly a problem if you are putting that gene in a dog. Or human. Dont think they won't, either.

 

[mike455555]

very true with that but takeing the dog for example... it would be in a lab to start off with ... any abnormal effect from it... they could put it down before introducing it to the general population... as for eating it... it doesnt matter what genes we eat they all get broken down in our tummy's. genes code for proteins and its the proteins which could poison us for example.. if we eat them... but i dont think they will have that effect. personally i think the actual risk is low and the perceived risk is high

as for cross pollination often when making the gm food there is also an antibiotic thing in them to tell which crops are changed... i think that if they were to introduce it they could put an opisite gene in it .. so a certain thing will kill the crops with the gene only...

 

[Devilish Angelfish]

very true with that but takeing the dog for example... it would be in a lab to start off with ... any abnormal effect from it... they could put it down before introducing it to the general population... as for eating it... it doesnt matter what genes we eat they all get broken down in our tummy's. genes code for proteins and its the proteins which could poison us for example.. if we eat them... but i dont think they will have that effect. personally i think the actual risk is low and the perceived risk is high

as for cross pollination often when making the gm food there is also an antibiotic thing in them to tell which crops are changed... i think that if they were to introduce it they could put an opisite gene in it .. so a certain thing will kill the crops with the gene only...

Oh ok, I didnt know about the antibiotic part - I just knew that there was an almighty hoo-hah when companies here wanted to start growing GM crops. It occurs to me that in the case of prions, they are ingested but move on to infect the creature that ingested it. I know prions aren't genes but they have genes and can cross species barriers. I'm not saying its right or wrong (though I lean toward one more than the other myself), just that its too soon. It just seems to me that we don't know enough about the gene coding and all the little add-on bits yet to go messing about putting them into other species, thats all....and as for making glow in the dark fish just so humans don't have to mess about catching fish in a net and counting them....

 

[fluttermoth]

and as for making glow in the dark fish just so humans don't have to mess about catching fish in a net and counting them....

It's not they couldn't be bothered, it's that netting and counting is very ineffiecent (and inaccurate) way of doing it.

 

[mike455555]

i agree with you i dont think we should be sticking genes in other things until we know what were doing but i guess that's part of finding out?... i still dont see why glowfish are illegal in the UK though ... i bet there's some back street deals going on with them?

 

[fishguy2727]

People fear what they don't understand. People don't understand that when you add a pigment gene to a zebra danio you get a different colored zebra danio and not a monster out of a comic book that will destroy us all (science is very hard for some people). I hope it is better over there, but over here in the U.S. Christians have too much control over education meaning that the ones who don't understand it get to say that only so much of it can be taught, meaning that it is understood even less, making more and more people misunderstand and fear basic things about it.

If a company invests millions of dollars into research and genetic modification and produces new products through that research and development they should be able to profit from what is produced. The fact that now those products are self-replicating doesn't mean that people can steal that company's hard work and make money from it on their own, they get sued if they do that. It is no longer a natural product, just like glass windows are no longer a natural product. They have been modified in a way that increases their demand and therefore value, they are no longer piles of sand on a beach. These fish and crops are now a new and improved product that would have never existed without our intervention.

 

[mike455555]

i agree with you but i disagree because animals are not crops your talking like they dont have a choice. you cant stop them from breeding so if you have to give them away would you be breaking the law?