Rant: GM glow in the dark fish?

Thanks to Jeff the comic
for pointing me in the direction of This. Or maybe not. I am truly horrified and outraged. GM modified fish to be sold as glow in the dark ornaments? How low can we get?

Now, I confess to being a member of the UK soil association which opposes all things GM. But before the cries of ‘luddite’ start to echo around my blog let me say that I joined mainly because the girl who cornered me outside the health food shop (I was just passing, not using it, honest) was very pretty. And I fear it’s a membership I must cancel now I have purchased the money pit that is Chez Rich. But I digress. I am broadly in favour of GM research. And if you can develop a grain that can survive drought conditions then wonderful, lets feed Africa. But if you want to develop wheat that is resistant to herbicides and insecticides so that you can kill every other living thing in the field then I am fiercely opposed. That’s always the issue. Its not the technology that’s the problem, but how it is used.

Now pets as companions, or even to keep creatures (in good conditions) that interest you as a hobby I can sort of understand. Indeed, I used to breed tropical fish and will have a pond with goldfish next year (I hope), so I can’t object to much. But living creatures as fashion accessories is abhorrent(yes, you stupid rich bitches with your miniature dogs that you dump when they become too large for your handbags, I mean you).

So, to genetically modify fish to make glow in the dark ornaments? Is it just me or has the world gone mad? There is an unpleasant practice in the fish-keeping world where certain fish are injected with coloured dyes to make them ‘more attractive’. It is fiercely opposed by all responsible fish-keeping magazines and organisations and good fish-keepers boycott stores that stock these fish. I really hope that these GM glo-fish are treated in the same way.

If you want shiny decorations buy tinsel.