Delayed docs on genetically modified salmon released by FDA

AP

This undated 2010 handout photo provided by AquaBounty Technologies shows two same-age salmon, a genetically modified salmon, rear, and a non-genetically modified salmon, foreground.

Long-awaited U.S. Food and Drug Administration documents in the approval process of the first genetically engineered animal for human consumption were published on the FDA website at the start of the holiday weekend on Dec. 21.

The FDA was believed poised to make a decision in 2010, but the approval process stalled. The timing of this release and the cause of previous delays are raising questions. 

The document release came two days after Slate and the Genetic Literacy Project published an investigative story regarding the fishy delays; seven-months-long to two-years-long depending on who you ask, notes the L.A. Times. 

Developed by AquaBounty Technologies (and sometimes refered to as "Frankenfish"), the AquAdvantage animals are Atlantic salmon that have been modified with a Chinook growth gene hormone to mature twice as fast.

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