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Pros And Cons Of Gmos: Supporting Or Suffocating Our Economy

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GMOs: Supporting or Suffocating Our Economy? Genetically Modified Foods, or GMOs, are one of the most controversial issues of today’s world. Specifically, people want to know are they healthy or harmful to consume. What most most people don’t consider is how these foods impact our economy. With the approval of AquAdvantage Salmon, it is imperative to consider how these new, possibly better, fish could affect the economy. First off, the AquAdvantage Salmon grows faster than a wild Salmon. This fish does not grow larger than a wild Salmon, it just grows faster. (livescience) In fact, they grow to market weight, about 4.5 to 6.5 pounds, twice as fast as traditional salmon. They take about a year and a half while wild salmon take about 3 years. (fishsite) This “hyper-growth rate” (livescience) allows fish to reach …show more content…

AquAdvantage counters this by moving fisheries inland. But how how are fisheries that cost 40% more beneficial? (Harvard) Besides reducing the likelihood of escaped fish, these inland fisheries would provide fish grown domestically, close to population centers. This reduces transportation costs dramatically and also improves the entire supply chain. (fishsite) How much does this really save though? The answer is a lot, today the United States imports 97% of the salmon sold within it’s borders. (AquAdvantage) Also, moving these fisheries into inland United States would create a multitude of jobs, which would drastically improve the American economy. (AquAdvantage) Finally, raising these fish domestically would allow us to avoid the 1.9% import tax on fish. (Duty Calculator) Again, this tax seems so insignificant but from 2000-2004 Americans consumed 284,000 metric tons of salmon per year. That’s a lot of import taxes adding to the high price of salmon. AquAdvantage moving fisheries inland could have a huge positive impact on the American

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