In the future, the roasted pork shoulder or the slices of seasoned country ham you eat may well come from gene-hacked pigs.as they work on perfecting CRISPR-edited pigs designed to withstand the disease porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome , which has caused billions in losses for pig farmers.
"I think by and large the farmers are quite excited to have it, because this is a fairly devastating disease," Genus' Global Director of Regulatory and External Affairs Clint Nesbitt told the magazine.. If given the green light, the pigs would enter the history books as the first ever gene-edited domestic animal for mass meat consumption.
Once approved, Genus would be selling sperm from the gene-edited pigs that carry the modified genes. Subsequent breeding, it says, will yield porkers that will be totally immune to PRRS.Farmers have tried to keep the disease in check with antibiotics, vaccines, isolating pigs, and cleaning and disinfecting pig breeding facilities. But industrial pig farms are often crowded and unhappy places
In the face of all that, genetics modification is a tempting solution. But animal welfare advocates say gene-edited farm animals"Keeping animals crowded together, and in stressful conditions, provides an ideal environment for pathogens to spread and evolve," anti-factory farm group Compassion in World Farming's research manager Catherine Jadav told.