Glo Fish Case

The GloFish, a fluorescent red zebrafish sold as a novel pet, has become the first transgenic animal sold to U.S. consumers. Its sale has produced regulatory controversies, a lawsuit, and profits for its proponent, Yorktown Technologies (Austin, TX). With the market plan calling for sales in a widening number of countries, continuing controversy seems likely.
A genetically modified glofish is a brand of genetically modified freshwater zebrafish. Scientists insert a fluorescent protein gene to the embryo before the fish hatches.
-trademarked transgenic zebrafish (Danio rerio) expressing a red fluorescent protein from a sea anemone under the transcriptional control of the promoter from the myosin light peptide 2 gene of zebrafish1. Produced
Cons:
Humans cannot eat glofish glofish cannot survive if they escape into waterways
Australia, Canada and Europe ban the marketing of glofish because they are genetically modified organisms.
Possible interbreeding to fish whose genomes are very similar that could upset the diverse freshwater fish fauna and complex freshwater ecosystem.
Breeding between escaped GloFish and native fish could weaken the progeny and negatively affect the native fish species in future generations, said Brian Zimmerman, aquarium curator at the Zoological Society of London.
The fluorescence in the GloFish may give them an unfair advantage or a disadvantage as they forage for food or in their roles as prey and predator, Zimmerman said. The point is, nobody knows for sure. “GM fish have only been around for a few years, and I don’t think we know enough to say they are safe,” he said.
“There is no way of predicting any species’s fitness in the absence of environmental settings, because species do not behave as predicted by
Purpose: Fluorescent glofish are bred to protect environmental pollutants. Scientists can determine when a waterway is contaminated.
How glofish works:Their fluorescent colour is produced by a fluorescent protein gene. They occur naturally and are derived from marine organisms. Once the gene goes into the genome of the embryo, the developing fish will pass on the same genes to its offspring. Because of this, scientists don't have to add a fluorescent gene to every fish before it hatches. They are bred from their offspring.
More intense aquaculture, however, can create environmental problems of its own, mainly through runoff wastes and population concentrations, which can be hotbeds for the development of viral diseases and parasites, such as sea lice, and may also threaten wild fish.
2. Adv. providing better disease resistance, faster growth and improved food use. Clearly, some modifications aim mainly at increasing the economics of fish