Unacknowledged Health Benefits of Genetically Modified Food: Salmon and Heart Disease Deaths

Researchers are busily assessing possible adverse health and environmental risks of genetically modified (GM) foods in accordance with European Union directives (European Executive Council, 2000), international agreements (Convention on Biodiversity, 2000), and United States (US) regulatory policy (US Food and Drug Administration [FDA], 1992). Genetically modified foods may offer great benefits, both directly as with nutritionally superior “Golden Rice” (Ye, 2000), and indirectly through improved diets, but regulators do not formally consider such benefits in their decision making (European Executive Council, 2000; FDA, 1992). The case of GM salmon illustrates both the potential magnitude of the health benefits from indirect nutritional improvements and the problem with the regulators’ generally one-sided approach, which is ultimately derived from the “precautionary principle.” The protein to genetically modify salmon is now under review by the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Veterinary Medicine, which is considering its safety and efficacy as an animal drug and is consulting with other agencies on risks to wild salmon (which are protected by the US Endangered Species Act). Apparently excluded from the regulatory calculus is the substantial effect of GM salmon on reducing the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), the number one cause of death in the US (National Center for Health Statistics, 2000). By growing year-round, GM salmon can reduce fish farmers’ costs. Lower production costs would lower prices, increase salmon consumption, and boost intake of omega three (n-3) fatty acids. These fatty acids significantly lower the risks of CHD and other health problems (Rosenberg, 2002). Rational policy requires regulators to carefully compare the risks and the benefits of GM food. A small number of GM salmon, if accidentally released and not previously sterilized, could threaten a local species by creating hybrid offspring (National Research Council, 2000). A sensible evaluation of these risks, however, must involve some comparison with the full social benefits of GM salmon. These are likely to range from economic gains to fish farmers to effects on consumer’s health. To illustrate the importance of a frequently neglected category of benefits from GM foods—improved nutrition—we estimate declines in heart attacks from GM salmon by focusing on four factors.1 They represent the effects of (a) n-3 fatty acid intake on heart disease risk, (b) salmon consumption on n-3 intake, (c) salmon prices on salmon consumption, and (d) farming costs on salmon retail prices. We estimate that GM salmon would prevent between 600 and 2,600 deaths in the US annually, with a best estimate of roughly 1,400.