Research Document 2021/013

Environmental Risk Assessment of the Glofish® Sunburst Orange® Danio: a Transgenic Ornamental Fish imported to Canada for sale in the pet trade

By Noble Brzezinski, S., Leggatt, R., Johnson, N., and McGowan, C.

Abstract

Pursuant to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA), a notification under the New Substances Notification Regulations (Organisms) (NSNR(O)) was submitted by GloFish LLC to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) for the import of a genetically engineered Danio rerio called the GloFish® Sunburst Orange® Danio (YZ2018) for commercial sales in Canada. The environmental risk assessment analyzed potential hazards, likelihood of exposure and associated uncertainties, to reach a conclusion on risk. The environmental exposure assessment concluded that the occurrence of YZ2018 in the Canadian environment, outside of aquaria, is expected to be rare, isolated, and ephemeral due to its inability to survive typical low winter temperatures in Canada’s freshwater environments. Consequently, the likelihood of exposure of YZ2018 to the Canadian environment is ranked low. Uncertainty associated with the exposure assessment is low, given the available data for temperature tolerance of the notified line and relevant comparators, and lack of establishment of non-transgenic Danio rerio in North America despite a long history of use. The environmental hazard assessment concluded that potential hazards linked with environmental toxicity, trophic interactions, hybridization, disease, biodiversity, biogeochemical cycling, and habitat are negligible. There is low hazard (i.e., no anticipated harmful effects) related with horizontal gene transfer. Uncertainty associated with the environmental hazard ratings range from low to moderate due to data limitations for the notified and surrogate organisms, and some reliance on expert opinion and anecdotal evidence. There is low risk of adverse environmental effects at the exposure levels predicted for the Canadian environment from the use of YZ2018 as an ornamental aquarium fish or other potential uses.

Research Document 2021/013 (PDF, 812 KB)

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