After reading the headline article in the Echo (Feb. 10) about the Fanny Bay Oysters plant turning over the reigns to the Vancouver Island University for the installation of a new shellfish research station I became concerned about what this new facility would be doing in our region.

I was in the shellfish harvesting business for eight years, and studied invertebrate biology in college for three years. A red flag was raised in my mind when I read about the intentions to employ “molecular genomics to examine stress in shellfish and improve sustainability”.

I went to the website of this particular faculty of the university, formerly known as Malaspina College. It cited “development of NEW SPECIES”(my capitalization) from native species” in its curriculum. I then Googled the term “genomic manipulation of shellfish” and found that scientists in various highly funded programs in many countries, including Japan, Norway, and Canada have already been working on genetically modified shellfish to enhance them for survival in aquacultural environments.

In 2008, genetically "improved" oysters were cited as a probable cause of the "worst plague of the shellfish to hit France in 40 years". (see Telegraph.co.uk article)

I am very concerned that that the shellfish of our own waters may fall prey to the ever increasing dangers of this highly controversial practice of genetic manipulation.

I don’t know what to do about this, as it is essentially legal to genetically modify any lifeform on the planet, even human, but I just felt the need to draw attention to it.

Do we have the moral right to presume human selection over natural selection, and, in the process, potentially jeopardize the very basis of the earth’s biosphere? Why are these experiments being so wholeheartedly funded by our government when studies of the negative effects of genetically modified organisms in our environment get passed over in the budgets?

There is ample evidence that GMOs have caused a huge surge in allergies, as well as many diseases and consequent deaths. No one knows how far this will go once these new species are released into the ecosystems and allowed to have their way with us all.