Terra Infirma by Ron Baird. Is my favorite fish—tilapia—really a Frankenfish in disguise? Sadly, it’s true. They are given testosterone-laden food for the first few months of life and that turns them all into males, which grow larger and faster than females. Do we know this is safe? No, we do not.

But we do know that a combination of hormones in creeks from the effluent of wastewater plants have turned wild fish hermaphroditic. Many of today’s diseases are caused by foreign hormones or chemicals that damage hormones.

A feminized fish. Photo Credit: NOAA

My poor little tilapia are also being considered to be “modified” by the anti-freeze protein gene from Arctic flatfish, as well as salmon growth hormone gene.

In fact as of 2001 there were 20 species of wild fish being tested for genetic modification, according to a report by Jaques Diof, Director General of the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization.

These were Abalone, Arctic Char, Catfish. Common Carp, Indian Major Carp, Goldfish, Halibut, Flounder, Loach, Lobster, Japanese Medaka, Atlantic Salmon, Chinook and Coho Salmon, Shrimp, Striped Bass, Tilapia, Turbot, Cutthroat Trout, Rain Trout and Zebra Fish.

In China and the U.S., experiments using human growth hormone have been conducted on carp. These fish have tolerance of low oxygen levels, which may produced fish that can survive in rivers too polluted for normal fish.

I believe there’s something elementarily wrong with this.

What do you think?