- TAIPEI, Taiwan (Reuters)
-- When the world's first genetically engineered fish, the glowing
"Night Pearl," hit the market two months ago, its Taiwan developer
hoped for a sea of profits.
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- But instead, Taikong Corp dived into a barage of criticism
from environmentalists who say the 5 cm (2 inch) fluorescent green fish
poses a threat to the earth's ecosystem.
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- European environmentalists have been protesting against
the genetically engineered fish -- injected with a jellyfish gene -- for
months, and the Singapore government last week seized hundreds of them
being imported, said Fisher Lin, research manager for Taikong, a Taipei-based
pet fish breeder turned biotech firm.
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- "It's difficult to make a genetic engineering breakthrough,
but it's even more difficult to commercialise the product," said Lin.
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- Environmenalists say that if the formerly colourless
fresh water ricefish -- which now glows green in the dark -- is released
into nature, it could wreak havoc on the ecosystem.
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- But Lin insists all the transgenic fish developed by
Taikong are environmentally safe, as they are sterile.
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- The introduced gene comes from a natural marine organism
and the finished product -- the glowing fish -- is merely protein and harmless
to people or other marine creatures, he said.
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- "The greatest worries about introducing any new
GMO (genetically modified organisms) are, first of all, the impact on the
ecosystem, and secondly, whether it will cause a threat to human bodies,"
said Lin.
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- "We still have high hopes for the transgenic fish
and believe they will sell. But we also know people will have a lot of
questions," he said.
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- Taikong has already launched a second transgenic swimmer,
a fluorescent purple zebra fish that has been injected with a gene found
in coral, and hopes it and the ricefish would swim into aquariums all over
the world.
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- They also plan to introduce multicolour fluorescent pet
fish, including red, purple and blue.
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- Each transgenic fish costs T$600 (US$17), compared to
T$20 for a colourless ricefish costs.
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- "It's very special," said 28-year-old Su Wen-ling,
a graduate student who saw the fish at a biotech fair on Sunday.
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- "But fish is innocent. I don't think it's necessary
to apply genetic engineering on fish for people's viewing pleasure. There
are plenty of tropical fish that are beautiful."
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