The sensational speech of the rector of Dalrybvtuz Georgy KIMA in front of teachers and students was replicated by Vladivostok news agencies on April 1, and therefore at first it was perceived accordingly. Well, after all, a doctor of sciences, professor, honored worker of the fishery of the Russian Federation and head of a specialized university cannot act as the author of a super-thriller "a la Hollywood" …
However, here's a short story. America is hatching secret plans to ruin the Far Eastern wild salmon market. And it produces a biological weapon - genetically modified Atlantic salmon. The artificial “American” infects our defenseless “savages” - pink salmon, salmon and others - with a virus, which it carries, but to which it is absolutely immune. Our red fish get sick and die in herds. Russia is out. America rejoices - now it has world domination in the salmon market!
Photo: Rector of Dalrybvtuz Georgy KIM / kp.ru
Oddly enough, Hollywood and April 1 had nothing to do with it - Rector Kim did speak. Moreover, he declared war on America. So far, however, biological. And he urged everyone who cherishes their native nature to stand under his banner. Intrigued, we went to Dalrybvtuz for details.
Georgy Nikolaevich, what is your statement dictated by? The American developments you are talking about are not one year old. Have you decided that today, when anti-Western sentiments are strong in society, is the right moment?
- Scientists are out of politics. I have a serious reason to speak. American development could kill all wild salmon. Why? Because their genetically modified Atlantic salmon is immune to the ISA virus (Atlantic salmon infectious anemia), while ours is not.
What is this disease?
Promotional video:
- You see, the brain starts to shut down completely …
At the fish?
- Well, of course. Tissues are falling apart, blood vessels … This severe disease of fish is noted in Western and Eastern Europe, the USA, Canada, Peru, Chile. But the ISA virus cannot be transmitted to humans, and Atlantic salmon, like the Norwegian salmon, are edible. For example, I try not to use them. They are crammed with anabolic steroids - growth accelerators. If our wild salmon grows its marketable condition for 2-4 years, then the American one grows up to one and a half meters in length in some 18 months and weighs 60 kg. What will happen to a person who eats such fish? Not-well-known-but! Grandma said in two. But I am sure that salmon and other GMOs used in food are the reason that people on the planet are increasingly suffering from cancer.
Is this a scientific fact?
- It's my personal opinion. Producers of artificial salmon fulfill the order of the state: to seize the market, dictate their terms. The Americans themselves have practically no wild salmon left anywhere except Alaska. The market belongs primarily to Russia. We have the largest number of wild salmon in the world. We feed ourselves and all of Southeast Asia with them. So that's it. If you infect salmon with anemia, it will die within 7-10 days.
How can you infect?
- There are common feeding grounds in the ocean for Pacific and Atlantic salmon - this has been scientifically proven. The disease kills both wild salmon and their brethren kept on fish farms, as happened once at a fish hatchery on the east coast of Canada - about a million individuals died. American genetically modified salmon is also sick through and through. But he is immune, asymptomatic infected. And does not die. He lives with this disease all his life, people eat it. It's okay! And ours gets infected …
Photo: kp.ru
Infected - theoretically? Are there reliable data on the incidence of wild Pacific salmon?
- It's too early to talk about it. But the danger is real. And the Americans say: let us give you immune pills, and then your fish will not be afraid of any virus!
And how can he, wild salmon, be fed with such tablets? There are just one or two fish breeding plants here …
- Well yes. We reproduce only two and a half percent of the total catch …
- So, about the pills. Have you come across such commercial offers yourself?
Not. But I collect information bit by bit. In February 2013, a regular meeting of the Arctic Council was held in Yakutsk, where colleagues from Sweden Mark Marefing and Michael Gil criticized the US policy of creating transgenic salmonids. But not everyone is on our side. So, the Chinese not only do not see the threat, but, according to my information, are going to buy a batch of genetically modified Atlantic salmon fry from the Americans. Yes, if the Chinese start producing immune red fish, all wild salmon will die out! There will be a global biological imbalance. And it is still unknown what will happen to other types of fish - the same cod, pollock?
- You are drawing some kind of apocalypse. What for? After all, it is not yet clear whether genetically modified foods are harmful. Maybe, according to some scientists, they are not harmful at all?..
Why then did our country give up Australian beef?
- Yes, from which we just did not refuse. From the same Latvian sprats …
- I say openly: China plans to buy a huge batch of Atlantic salmon, technology. And here they are, our borders, our fish. It is very dangerous. I want the Chinese not to buy the American development. He spoke about it abroad too - he appeared on the central television of South Korea. I will raise the problem this autumn in Tokyo at the annual forum of Asian fisheries universities - I am preparing a report. Here, at home, I voiced the topic for the first time. But I will continue to fight. We at Dalrybvtuz have deeply studied the situation and continue to study closely. As a scientist, I tell you: “There is a danger! Real! It is an indisputable fact that America can destroy all of our marine fauna!
BTW
"Artificial" salmon today excites those who are engaged in the fish business. Here is the opinion of the general director of one of the largest fishing enterprises in the Far East, Yuri SVETLIKOV:
- As you know, a medal has two sides, - our interlocutor notes. “Fast-farmed salmon or other types of fish are certainly a source of quick income, and this is not hidden by those who produce giant fish today. On the other hand, they publicly declare that transgenic foods are an effective fight against hunger on the planet. But until those who promote GM technologies name the real cost of using such products in food and calculate the threats to wildlife, these statements will only be a declaration, if not - outright speculation.
OPINION OF THE SKEPTIC
They have been trying to understand whether artificial salmon is dangerous for twenty years. However, not all scientists are in a hurry to stand under the banner of Kim. Here is what one of the dissenters, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Head of the Genetics Laboratory of the Institute of Marine Biology, Far East Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladimir Brykov, thinks about the loud statement:
- Genetically modified Atlantic salmon really exists. And he was indeed injected with an additional gene for the Chinook salmon growth hormone, which ensured his accelerated growth. It happened about 20 years ago. Since then, it has been tested and rechecked. Moreover, all the experiments allegedly confirming the harm of GMOs were either falsified or incorrectly staged. They did not convince anyone, and about two years ago, the Atlantic salmon - "artificial" was allowed to be used for food. Today it is the only genetically modified animal product allowed for food. Almost certainly, all the Far Easterners ate it, and not only them. So when they say that "American" salmon is harmful, but at the same time they do not give a specific link to a specific work or report, this is just fiction.
Concerns about the ability of GM salmon to carry the dangerous ISA virus - “Atlantic salmon infectious anemia” - are also unconvincing. "Artificial" salmon are not a competitor to wild ones, just because they are not able to survive in the ocean, as they are grown in cages and are not accustomed to getting food for themselves. Even if it does fall into the ocean, it is solely due to human carelessness, and is unlikely to be widely distributed.
Wild Atlantic salmon "intersect" with wild Pacific salmon only in two places - the Great Lakes (USA) and the White Sea (Russia). Science knows of no cases of transmission of any viruses or parasites in one direction or another. If there really was such a problem, all of Scandinavia and the Baltics, catching wild Atlantic salmon, would have long ago howled. It turns out that "their" salmon is also not protected?
What's all this hype for? To declare that the enemies want to ruin the Russian market? Apparently, the one who makes the noise "forgot" that the Americans also catch the same Far Eastern wild salmon. It turns out that they want to ruin their market too?