Christmas: genetically altered household pet goes on sale "gloindark fish"

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-me-glofish22nov22,0,7221696.story?coll=la-news-science


The aquarium industry anticipates a big splash, with a boost in Christmas sales of fish tanks in anticipation of the novelty. This is the first genetically altered pet being produced for market, but researchers are working on others, including an allergen-free cat.

Zebra fish, which are 1 1/2 inches long and normally light gray with black stripes, are widely used in biomedical laboratories for research in genetics, molecular biology and vertebrate development. Geneticists began splicing the fluorescent genes of jellyfish into zebra fish eggs as genetic markers or to "light up" in the presence of toxins.

"If FDA somehow fails to regulate the proposal of Yorktown Technologies … it will set a precedent for all other fish producers and the floodgates will almost literally be opened," wrote Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food Safety. Other groups signing the letter included the Sierra Club, Greenpeace and the National Environmental Trust.


damn it i want a shitless dog

I love cats, and currently own two. Sadly, no matter how cold it gets outside, and despite the fact that it prevents me from closely bonding to them, they are never EVER allowed inside my house. Why not? Because my wife, who also adores cats, it horribly allergic to them. A dander-free cat sounds like a godsend.

Despite that, I am morally and ethically opposed to the genetic modification of cats. How do we know that dander doesn't play some important, as yet undiscovered, role in their health?

they get neutered and declawed...yet you want to keep dander??

Good comeback!

If I want a hideously deformed and unhealthy animal I'll do it the old fashioned way and breed those traits into them.

This genetic engineering crap is taking all the honest work out of it.

How they bred lovely cats that looked like this:





Into hideously malformed cats that look like this through selective breeding:

There are two ways of painting a fish.

The first is to take some small, reasonably colorless fish--glassfish are most popular for this, then albino corydoras catfish, glass catfish and so on--and inject the fish with dye.

The other is to take the same kind of fish, immerse them in a caustic bath to strip off the fish's slime coat, then immerse them in a dye.

They fade back to what they looked like before they were tortured. They don't live very long and they have bad lives while they're alive. Don't buy painted fish, and try not to shop at places that sell them. (Yes, Wal-Mart has them.)

If fish were dogs, everyone involved in this trade would be in jail for Cruelty to Animals. But you can do about anything to a fish and get away with it.

These little genetically-modified fish, if they can be engineered not to be able to crossbreed, don't seem like all that bad an idea: zebras are fairly innocuous, the bright coloration almost ensures they'll be eaten quickly if released, and they'll attract attention away from the painted fish because they're much brighter and they won't fade, plus they should have a better life because no one stripped their slime coats to get them this way.

Would I, personally, buy any of these fish? Yeah, maybe; I'm trying to get together a 55-gallon tank with a big school of neons in it. These might be a decent substitute, depending on the price.

I should also start an Unwanted Fish Disposal Service--just get a 300-gallon aquarium and put six Oscars in it. Bring your unwanted fish to Jim's UFDS and your problem will be solved quickly and painlessly.