Banned because they could survive, and thrive in California waterways. Some of which are not polluted by tropical fish releases like some other Southern states.
Yeah, but normal danios could survive too so it's not just that, it has something to do with the GMO. Maybe they think the gene for fluorescent protein would move into other fish species through hybridization. It's happened before with plants and various modified for expression of insecticides and herbicide resistance.
ETA - aha. The wiki page on this is actually quite useful, and the sources check out. CDFG had a ban on all GMO fish even before glofish were released. They did finally say that the ban could be released but the state said the change in rule required preparation of an EIR under CEQA - the California Environmental Quality Act. It costs several hundred thousand dollars to hire the consultants to do an EIR. Case closed.
The state of California is always more cautious about such things, probably rightly so. Without knowing the science behind it, Mesto's guess/explanation seems valid, a little scary when you think about it. I certainly wouldn't want other fish phosphorescing because we decided we needed (...NOT!) Glofish.
Word...I think most of the public fails to realize that more than 80% of all soybean and corn crops in the US are GMs...and NOT the "line breeding" sort of GMs either.
Right, but there is a difference between genetic modification so that we can feed more people or produce fuel, vs. genetic modification so that we can make a fish that glows in the dark and looks like a bag of Skittles.
This kind of reminds me of the whole animal testing debate. I'm not sure how valuable animal testing actually is (not being a scientist, myself) but I assume it has some validity. If that is the case, then I am all for animal testing if it is for a medical reason. Cancer drugs? Yes. Cosmetics? Not so much.
Again, even though I feel it is unnecessary and promotes irresponsible fishkeeping, I do not believe it is unethical to have/make Glofish. I just shudder at those "Glofish tanks" much the same way I shudder at the tiny betta hex receptacles, or whatever.
I don't disagree that the Glofish tanks are a horrible invention...but I shake my head when people lump all GMO's together and then act like they are the spawn of the devil.
what ever you do.. dont use black lights.. they can harm fish eye sight. ( some may disagree with me, but everyone i deal with that wants glo fish for that reason, i tell them not to use black light ) i will never own any glo fish... for two reason........ they are outrageously priced. and they arent my cup of tea...
