Biotechnology, particularly of food products, is usually a divisive issue. Debates tend to get heated, common ground is hard to come by, and compromises are rare. But what if genetic engineering could help find a truce between two groups that, to put it mildly, hardly ever see eye-to-eye?
The possibility of such a phenomenon comes as a result of the potential genetic modification of farm animals. Paul Shapiro, the head of the Humane Society of the United States’ (HSUS) farm animal protection division, recently stated at a conference that the organization could potentially support such modifications, provided that those modifications were meant to reduce perceived livestock suffering. Shapiro cautioned, however, that HSUS would oppose any animal genetic engineering that would promote animal growth.
“We don’t have orthodoxy or a litmus test for technologies,” he said. “We want technologies that are good for animals.”
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[This article was originally published on AGDAILY as a guest column.]
