London 5/9/2002 - Environmentalists warned last Friday that genetically modified fish which can grow 10 times faster than normal could cause problems and upset the delicate balance of nature.

The cause of their alarm was the recent announcement made by a US food company called AF Protein. AF Protein claimed that it could engineer GM fish and cut the cost of raising salmon and trout by 50%. Both UK and US environmentalists said that more tests were needed before such fish are made available for consumption.

People who are proponents of GM food say that this new technology could help provide food to the developing world, cut costs and reduce the need for pesticides. People who are opponents of GM food say the health risks of GM food are not clear and the environmental dangers great.

Supermarkets in Britain are being very cautious about stocking GM food due to consumer fears about the safety of such food. The leading supermarket chains have already pulled such produce from their shelves. AF Protein is reported to have inserted growth hormone genes from one fish and genes from another fish, which can activate them, into Atlantic salmon. It says the technology is precise enough to be sure that only genetically modified fish can produce the growth hormone. It also made sure that all its "guinea pig" fish are infertile.

But some US environmentalists warn that it is not possible to be 100 percent sure that all of the fish are sterile. Once you have such an organism out there, you can't recall it. It reproduces, it disseminates, it mutates. If a few of those fish do escape and they do mate with native wild populations, no one, nothing, can stop that genetic pollution from destroying that species.
British environmentalists were equally concerned, echoing the anger they vented last year when details were revealed about similar experiments being done in Scotland.

A Scottish politician revealed one such experiment named "Franken-fish". During this experiment thousands of fish were given an extra gene to make them grow faster. The experiment took place three years ago in a confined area to prevent the fish from escaping into the wild. Approximately 50 of the fish grew at four times the normal rate with no sign of abnormalities. The project was put to an end one year later and all the fish were destroyed.

An adapted news story .

Check that you understand what these words mean in this document
To modify: to change.
Proponent: a person who is in favour of something.
Pesticide: a chemical substance used for killing bugs on plants.
Opponent: a person  who does not agree with something.
Stocking: offering for sale.
Guinea pig: an animal (or person) used in a scientific test, usually to discover the effect of a drug on humans.
Infertile: animals that cannot reproduce.
Sterile: synonym to “infertile”, not being able to reproduce.
To disseminate: to spread around.
To mutate: to change genetically.
To vent: to express a negative emotion.
To reveal: to uncover, to show to the public.