GloFish

                  GloFish is the trade name of fish that have been genetically modified (GM) so that they are fluorescent (able to emit light that is brighter than that which they receive). They were patended in the United States by Yorktown Technologies of Austin, Texas which started with black and white striped zebra fish and now sells flurescent fish in a wide range of colours - blue, green, orange, purple, red and yellow - in the ornamental aquarium market. The company is today one of the leading sellers of ornamental and aquarium livestock.

                 The first fish of this type were created in 1999 by Dr.Gong Zhiyuan and his colleagues at the National University of Singapore. Taking a gence that naturally produces a green fluorescent protein in jellyfish, they inserted it into zebra fish embryos. Red Zebra fish were then created by injecting them with a jene from a sea coral. Next, a team of researchers at the National Taiwan University created a GM rice fish that emited a green light; other colours soon followed. The scientists' original aim had been to create fish that would give off warning lights on coming into contact with toxins, enabling the speedy detection of contamination in waterways. However, it quickly became apparent that they had created a potential marketing phenomenon.

               In 2003, the US Food and Drug Administration approved GloFish for sale because, although the creatures have been treated with drugs, they are inedible and will therefore not enter the human food chain. Glofish remain illegal in California, and are banned in Canada and throughout the European Union, but sales elsewhere are now in their billions: GloFish are found illuminating aquaria and ponds almost wherever they are permitted.