GM lamb with healthy fish fat on Chinese menu Dr Yutao Du, of the Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI) in Shenzhen, southern China, said: "The gene was originally from the C. elegans roundworm which has been shown to increase unsaturated fatty acids, which is very good for human health." Omega-3 fatty acids are thought to be protective against heart disease and could even boost brainpower. Du said that BGI was now "ready for the industrial-scale development" of GM sheep. Du emphasised that the altered lamb would not be making its way on to restaurant plates anytime soon. "The Chinese government encourages transgenic projects but we need to have better methods and results to prove that transgenic plants and animals are harmless and safe for consumption, that is crucial," he said. No GM animal has yet been approved for human consumption so far anywhere in the world. AquaBounty, an American firm, has patented a GM Atlantic salmon that contains a gene from another fish,a Chinook salmon, which makes it grow twice as quickly as natural ones. The GM fish could be approved by the US's Food and Drugs Administration this summer. If so it would be the first 'transgenic' animal approved by the FDA for human consumption. Foods made from GM crops, however, are now commonplace in US supermarkets.