A creepy new use for rBGH

Putting cow hormones into fish food makes them balloon 12

Update [2008-8-22 13:20:9 by Tom Philpott]:I was alerted to the rBGH-tilapia news item by this blurb in the Organic Consumers Association news feed on Aug. 19. But when you click on the link provided by OCA, you're taken to a source dated 2003. Unlike reader Mr. Mean, who (very cordially) comments below, I sloppily didn't notice how old this "news" is. I emailed E. Gordon Grau, the Hawaii-based scientist who performed the study on rBGH and tilapia, to ask him if there was anything new to report. He replied that there was no new data, and that his institute was no longer working on the project. He added that to his knowledge, the practice of feeding genetically modified cow hormones to farmed fish had never taken off. So, to the best of my knowledge, this is a non-story. I regret having run with it.

Want a snapshot of the state of research at the modern state university? Here's one:

In collaboration with Monsanto Chemical Company and California Sea Grant, Hawaii Sea Grant Director Gordon Grau is characterizing the efficacy and safety of Monsanto's recombinant bovine growth hormone in raising aquacultured tilapia.

Sea Grant is a publicly funded, nationwide network of 30 state-university research and extension programs designed to "foster science-based decisions about the use and conservation of our aquatic resources." Sea Grant has a pithy little slogan: "Science serving America's coasts."

In this case, it might consider modifying that to read: "Publicly funded research serving the globe's largest agri-biotech company." According to one account, the Sea Grant kicked in $100,000 to support the project, with Monsanto ponying up $80,000.

And what do you know? The experiment established a nifty new use for rBGH even as it's being hounded out of the dairy market by concerned consumers. Turns out that feeding genetically modified cow hormones to fish makes them grow really big, really fast: They balloon to "nearly twice the size of control fish in four weeks." The FDA has yet to approve rBGH as a fish feed. But given the way that agency has waved the agri-biotech industry's creations onto the nation's dinner plates with minimal testing, it's hard to imagine this novelty encountering much resistance.

Grist food editor Tom Philpott farms and cooks at Maverick Farms, a sustainable-agriculture nonprofit and small farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Follow Tom’s Twitter feed here.

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  1. Erik Hoffner's avatar

    Erik Hoffner Posted 3:14 am
    20 Aug 2008

    sigh

    I'm so sick of things like this. Please, let rbgh die, already...

    Erik

    The Orion Grassroots Network: supporting grassroots groups working for conservation, justice, & more

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  2. Tasermons Partner Posted 5:03 am
    20 Aug 2008

    Tilapia?...

    ...most people don't use those as food anymore.  In fcat, I know several people who use the oil they secret as a bio-fuel.

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  3. Tom Philpott's avatar

    Tom Philpott Posted 5:39 am
    20 Aug 2008

    Huh?

    Puzzling comment, Tasermons. Tilapia hit a snag this year because of rising production costs and a report claiming it might not be very healthy, but U.S. tilapia imports  in 2008 remain something like 50 percent higher than they were in 2004, the FAO reports. http://www.seafoodsource.com/NST-2-50075657/Tilapia-Conti ...

    then there's this, from a seafood trade obsever in July: http://www.seafoodsource.com/NST-2-50075657/Tilapia-Conti ...

    For evidence of [tilapia's] budding popularity, just look at the Top 10 consumption list of 2007, released yesterday by the National Fisheries Institute.

    Tilapia is quickly rising up the chart, fueled by consumer demand for healthful, mild whitefish. The farmed fish held on to the No. 5 spot this year at 1.142 pounds per capita (one notch ahead of catfish for the second straight year), a 14 percent gain. There's little reason to think No. 5 is the highest tilapia can climb.

    But to ascend another rung on the ladder, it'll have to overtake pollock, which registered 1.73 pounds per capita. Could 2008 be the year? The Alaska pollock quota was slashed by 28 percent to 1 million metric tons, which may allow tilapia to leapfrog yet another strong species. The top three--shrimp, canned tuna and salmon--will take a bit longer to reach, but don't rule it out.

    Tilapia is enjoying similar success globally. This could be a stunningly profitable market for rBGH.

    Victual Reality

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  4. amazingdrx Posted 5:43 am
    20 Aug 2008

    Mmmmm

    That's good fish fry, I bet it makes tumors grow twice as fast too!  And that benefits the healthcare industry.  And the mortuary industry.

    Only prosperity hating, nature worshiping heathens could object to all that multi-faceted  growth!  Please quit whining and pass the rGBH tilapia.

    http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

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  5. MrMean Posted 8:53 am
    20 Aug 2008

    New News? Dateline 2003

    The Sea Grant story is from 2003.  That snapshot is over 5 years old.

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  6. amazingdrx Posted 8:46 pm
    20 Aug 2008

    Good Meanie

    That means that these fish are already busy growing the economy..and the tumors!  That'll make you smile.

    http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin

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  7. Tom Philpott's avatar

    Tom Philpott Posted 10:42 pm
    20 Aug 2008

    Good quesion, Mr. Mean

    I'm trying to figure out why Organic Consumers Association published this link on their news feed on Aug. 19 (Tuesday): http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_14189.cf ...
    More info as I get it.

    Victual Reality

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  8. wiscidea Posted 11:24 pm
    20 Aug 2008

    But...

    Tom wrote...

    "Turns out that feeding genetically modified cow hormones to fish makes them grow really big, really fast: They balloon to "nearly twice the size of control fish in four weeks." The FDA has yet to approve rBGH as a fish feed."

    But I thought the rBGH pushers said there is no need to worry about rBGH affecting human health... recombinant proteins are degraded by the digestive system and inactivated.

    Hmmm... yet, someone can sprinkle the stuff on fish food, toss in the water, and the tilapia can consume it and then grow faster. Humans are not affected, but an organism more distant from us than a cow IS affected? Fascinating.

    So... rBGH manufacturers... are organisms NOT affected by consuming rBGH or is it a nifty new feed additive? If it shows up in cow milk re humans really NOT affected?

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  9. JohnS Posted 7:13 am
    21 Aug 2008

    R bgh

    If it made it to the children in MILK, will it not get there in Fish? I guess that our kids do not eat fish ether.Gee I guess that I will have to be limited to only what I can grow myself to really be safe. But what will I use for fertilizer? Gee I wonder if the r bgh may get threw the cow if I use cow manure. I am glad all this is slow poison and don't hurt as it kills me. I wonder if I am the only one dieing or if even the politico's get theirs from the same farms?

    I tried to contain my self but I escaped.

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  10. Tasermons Partner Posted 3:15 pm
    21 Aug 2008

    Ah...

    ...good point Tom, but please take note that those figures are for per capita, and not total amount.  It quickly drops lower in that category.

    Plus notice it doesn't specify the use of the Tilapia.  I know several people who use it as a bio-fuel, not as a food source.  I don't know what percentage of the ovarall industry does that, but it could have an impact on those figures.

    I've also heard that some fish farms actually use 'em as feed for other fish, so a marked increase could just represent a marked increase in use as feed for other fish (not that the concept would be a good thing either...)

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  11. Wolverine Posted 9:01 am
    22 Aug 2008

    Use Of Tilapia

    Taser,

    Tilapia is quite popular in restaurants here in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Can't speak for the rest of the country, but it's very common on menus here.

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  12. caniscandida Posted 5:55 pm
    24 Aug 2008

    Paul Roberts on CAFOs

    This is not on rBGH, but it is part of the same big picture: an op-ed in Saturday's LA Times, by Paul Roberts, author of "The End of Food":

    http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-roberts23-2008a ....

    Thanks to Karen Dawn, of DawnWatch.com, for alerting her mailing list.

    Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

    Permalink

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