This is an important conversation for all of us in the food animal chain. Medical experimentation of plants & animals that we rely on for food sets up a conflict of what constitutes the greater good: food security or medical progress? One solution would be utilizing species outside of the present food chain for biotechnology. The entire human race depends upon just a handful of domesticated species for its survival: rice, wheat, corn, soy, cattle, hogs, poultry. These ought to be exempt from CRISPR experimentation, given the thousands of other species not in our diet. The truth is, medical technology is exploiting the wealth of gene research already in place for agricultural purposes.
This is an important conversation for all of us in the food animal chain. Medical experimentation of plants & animals that we rely on for food sets up a conflict of what constitutes the greater good: food security or medical progress? One solution would be utilizing species outside of the present food chain for biotechnology. The entire human race depends upon just a handful of domesticated species for its survival: rice, wheat, corn, soy, cattle, hogs, poultry. These ought to be exempt from CRISPR experimentation, given the thousands of other species not in our diet. The truth is, medical technology is exploiting the wealth of gene research already in place for agricultural purposes.