"Glowing" Fish...what's next?

Don't mean to be starting "philosophical" thread...but human's "playing" with "nature" this way seems to me an extremely dangerous path to start down. This certainly would not be considered an "improvement" in Mother Nature...



From Reuters yesterday...

Glowing fish to be first genetically changed pet
Fri November 21, 2003 04:59 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A little tropical fish that glows fluorescent red will be the first genetically engineered pet, a Texas-based company has said.
The zebra fish were originally developed to detect environmental toxins, but Alan Blake and colleagues at Yorktown Technologies, L.P. licensed them to sell as pets.

"These fish were bred to help fight environmental pollution," Blake said in a telephone interview on Friday. "They were bred to fluoresce in the presence of toxins."

Scientists have for decades used a gene called green fluorescent protein, taken from jellyfish, to help in research. The fish, sold under the trademarked name GloFish, carry a similar gene taken from a sea coral that makes it glow all the time.

Blake said there is no evidence the fish will pose any threat to the environment. Normal zebra fish are commonly used in aquariums and cannot survive in non-tropical waters.

"They are very bright under any type of light," Blake said. "Under ultraviolet light in a dark room they will appear to be glowing in the dark."

Blake, who before he set up the new business ran an Internet company, says he did not have a particular interest in fish before. "I had an aquarium when I was about 10," he said.

The fish, developed at the National University of Singapore by researcher Zhiyuan Gong, are also available as pets in Taiwan, the company said. They will sell for about $5 apiece at pet stores in January.

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"Regretfully"

OmarD

 

Yeah Omar, it's a little scary, isn't it? I don't like the feeling I get from hearing 'genetically engineered pets.' :

I think I just posted this story in the environmental news section last night, if you don't mind, I will move this there and kill my thread.

 

'genetically engineered children' - next?

sure ok to move...Om

 

I was thinking more along the lines of genetically engineered girlfriends myself. ;D

 

hey.. hey... hey...

 

Just kidding Wendy. Well.. sort of.

 

Well, You have had two years since that post. Have you changed your mind any at all in that time?

Jim

 

BRILLIANT! Matt you are a genius!!!
I wouldn't care to start working on that right now

 

haha, I wonder if Matt still remembers this post!

 

This is somehow wrong!
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