Inside, dozens of large plastic tubs roil with fish as water pumps hum and the smell of the ocean fills the air. It's a decidedly low-tech spot, but a technological revolution is underway. The first animals genetically engineered for American dinner plates are being raised here salmon spliced with genes that make them grow two to four times faster than nature's best. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is reviewing an application to sell the fish, a decision that will likely influence the fate of scores of other biotech animals being brought to life in dozens of similar labs around the world for humans to eat. Pigs engineered to have less fat, chicken designed to resist illness-causing bacteria, beef that can grow twice as fast on less feed they are all in the pipeline.
Advocates say animal biotechnology can supply abundant food at increasingly low cost.
But with opponents of genetic engineering already questioning whether soybeans and corn endowed with new genes are safe for people and the environment, the prospect of a genetically engineered animal has sparked intense controversy. The salmon is economically unnecessary, they argue, and could wreak havoc with the environment by outcompeting endangered wild salmon. We just thought we were making a better fish. The company says there is nothing mysterious about what it is doing, and has been unusually public about its efforts and plans. A steady stream of scientists, government officials, even tourists tramp through the warehouse.