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[Below is the original script. But a few changes may have been made during the recording of this audio podcast.]
Since Dolly the sheep was cloned back in July of 1996, the world of manipulating animal DNA has come a long way. In Massachusetts, goats now produce milk with drugs embedded. There are monkeys whose DNA glows green to enable scientific study.
But whether scientists are copying animal DNA in its entirety or simply manipulating parts of it, working with the genetic code of animals has proven trickier than initially thought.
Thus far, no genetically modified animals have thrived in the wild—unlike some of the GMO plants that have spread beyond test plots. Dolly still remains one of the only truly successful clones.
But transgenic animals, from mice to pigs, have proven vital to medical research. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration aims to ensure the safe use of transgenic animals and approved the first drug from transgenic goat's milk—an anti-clotting protein—earlier this year.
It's important to remember that we've been doing this kind of genetic manipulation of animals for a long time. Think: breeding. But it remains to be seen whether transgenic animals will provide miracle drugs, better food or even less polluting pigs. And even if we can make this work, there's still the potential problem of whether animals with altered DNA can be safely controlled.
—David Biello
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6 Comments
Add CommentI think ultimately (someday in the future) what should be done to deal with the ethical ramifications of utilizing these animals will be to modify them so they are more or less organic machines.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere are genetic defects that cause babies to be born with the most basic of nervous systems (IE missing 90% of their brains), they end up being vegetized. If we could create life in a similar fashion then many ethical worries and concerns for controlling spread in the wild could be mitigated. There is something very creepy about the thought of a warehouse full of goats with vacant stares in their eyes with milking devices hooked up to life support, but realistically I think the potential benefits to medical science far outweigh whatever concerns a group like PETA may come up with. If an organism is more or less just a process of chemical reactions it should remove our feelings of guilt.
This kind of work could one day lead to raw vat grown meat, which would be incredibly more efficient and ethical then our current system of raise and slaughter. Never mind growing organs for transplants and everything else involved.
Only time will tell what the dangers are of genetic modifications, but nature has been doing it very selectively for millions of years and so it must follow a pattern at some level. All of our research will one day take us into a posthuman society. This seems the most ethical goal of all.
goats with vacant stares ? Where's the fun in that? Where would the world be without the terrified screems of the tortured?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is the field I hope to enter when I graduate, it's amazing what can be done with genetic manipulation. I hope to help improve this technology.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisZenOO...it's great that you are inspired by recent gains in genetic research and want to get into genetics when you graduate. I hope you will be the one to cure cancer or Alzheimers or Parkinsons. Just make sure to keep your humanity and a sense of wonder and amazement at how well nature has maniplulated genetic material for eons. Respect the science of nature and it will take you places.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDDT, PCBs, asperteme, and agent orange were "safe" according to Monsanto. Engineering life is a fundamental mistake and irreversible. Genetic pollution replicates itself.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEngineering life is breeding. You can take either the long way(artificial selection) or the fast track(transgenics).
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