Transgenic Animals Open Up New Boundaries

Working in research lab where we use mice as part of our experiments has shown me the importance of animals in medical/biological research. However, it reminds me of the old times when animals were just kept as pets and used for meat. With technology on the rise, animals are being used for various purposes, as though they are just some 'things' available to satisfy our needs. This brings in the ethical issue of using animals as machines. 


In her book Frankenstein's Cat: cuddling up to biotech's brave new beasts, Emily Anthes constantly talks about using animals for research and how fruitful that has been. What striked me the most was the pharming techniques, where animals are just being used to mass produce medicines. All that needs to be done is to "take the gene for human antithrombin and injected it directly into fertilized goat eggs. Then they implanted the eggs in the wombs of female goat" (Anthes) This was followed by pairing the gene with the promoter that is active during milk production. Hence, whenever the goats produced milk, the gene was transcribed too and antithrombin was present in the goat's milk. All that needed to be done was collecting the milk, extracting it, and purifying it. This is mind-blowing because it not only saves a ton of money, but can produce medicine in massive amounts.


 

The problem, however, lies in the fact that animals will be used as machines. Rather than treating them as living things, we will use for our own benefits. What Emily Anthes mentions is that using animals for our own purposes isn't new. The question then is if we should object because the technology is. She also mentions that "biotechnology is not the only solution to what ails animals, but it's a weapon we now have in our arsenal one set of strategies for boosting animal health and welfare. If we reject if out of hand, we lose the good along with the bad" (Anthes). This view is evident in the article 'Gene-altered animals enter a commercial era' by Harold M. Schmeck Jr. The article describes all the good that has come from transgenic animals: rat milk that treats heart attack, mice that can inactivate the cancer gene, and pigs with more lean meat and less fat. These are just some examples among the many benefits that come from transgenic animals. The good outweighs the bad. This could open up a new commercial era. The question however is should we be afraid of technology and what it could turn into.


Other issues raised in the articles are that "use of the animals could upset agricultural economics, driving small farmers out of business, that some of the animals could upset the balance of nature and that the practice may cause suffering in animals. Some people are simply opposed philosophically to tinkering with the genetics of a species" (Schmeck Jr) All these are good ethical question to be raised, but Emily Anthes makes a point when she says that throwing away this biotechnology means throwing away the good that could come from it. Given all the benefits we are enjoying through transgenic animals, these new techniques should be given more support, leading to a new era in pharmaceuticals. 

Another article that was interesting was focusing on using zebrafish to help search for new pain durgs. Since neuropathic pain is often hard to study and ethical issues often come up, Dr. Antonio Giordano and Dr. Gianfranco Bellipanni are using transgenic fish that will turn fluorescent when they experience pain. This will help "to characterize better the cellular and molecular mechanisms of pain" (Scientific American). The goal of the study is to find chemicals that control analgesic activity. Hence, by modifying the genome of zebrafish a little, we might be able to make advances in neuropathy. This is another example of the good that comes from using transgenic animals. Throwing away such technology due to worry about "overusing" animals puts us at loss and further hinders our progress. With the emerging technology, the ethical issues should be left behind and transgenic animals should be used freely to open up new boundaries not known to man before.


Sources:


Anthes, Emily. Frankenstein’s Cat: Cuddling Up to Biotech’s Brave New Beasts.

 New York: Scientific American. 2013. Print.
"Can the Zebrafish Help Us to Search for New Pain Drugs?" ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 03 Sept. 2013. Web. 11 Oct. 2013.


Jr., Harold M. Schmeck. "Gene-Altered Animals Enter a Commercial Era." The New York Times. The New York Times, Web. 11 Oct. 2013.