The UK government is facing a massive backlash against its plan to deregulate gene editing, from organisations and individuals concerned with animal welfare. As well as the concerns raised below, gene editing of animals via current technologies will involve cloning, with the attendant horrors of non-viable foetuses, birth defects, and deaths of offspring.
1. ‘Huge mistake’ for government to ‘water down’ gene editing legislation – RSPCA
2. Gene editing will further narrow gene pool and intensify food and farming systems
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1. ‘Huge mistake’ for government to ‘water down’ gene editing legislation – RSPCA
William Kellett
AgriLand, 8 Jan 2021
https://www.agriland.co.uk/farming-news/minister-eustice-launches-consultation-on-gene-editing/
The RSPCA has responded to the news that a consultation on gene editing was launched by Environment Secretary George Eustice yesterday, Thursday, January 7.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) chief executive Chris Sherwood said:
“The RSPCA is very concerned about government plans to weaken legislation on livestock gene editing in England.
"This could lead to food from genetically altered animals being offered for sale on supermarket shelves or in restaurants, an unwanted and unacceptable development even if the food were labelled.
“Over and above the forthcoming government consultation, we would like to see a national debate taking place rather than just rush to deregulate gene editing.
“There are many questions to be considered and the public has the right to be informed and engaged in this debate and for us all to understand what this means for animal welfare.”
‘Claims Are Disingenuous And Potentially Misleading’
Sherwood continued:
“Claims that gene editing is the same as natural selection or plant grafting are disingenuous and potentially misleading.
"Gene editing is an unproven technology which does not take into account animal welfare, ethical or public concerns. It involves procedures that cause pain, suffering, distress and lasting harm and is an inefficient process, using large numbers of animals to produce a single individual with the desired result.
“Despite claims that these newer gene editing techniques are much more precise than previous methods, they still cause unpredictable and unintended changes to the genome, which are only just starting to be reported.
“Before this technology is adopted more widely, comprehensive research should be undertaken so we can understand the potential impact on people and animals.
"While the UK is no longer compelled to follow the EU’s robust genetically modified food laws which are designed to protect human and animal life, health and welfare, it would be a huge mistake for the Westminster government to water down that legislation.
“Rather than obtaining ever more productivity and profit from individual animals, who are sentient and have intrinsic worth, now is the time to drive forward sustainable agriculture practices that respect the welfare needs of farmed animals,” Sherwood concluded.
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2. Gene editing will further narrow gene pool and intensify food and farming systems
by Patrick Holden
Sustainable Food Trust, 7 January, 2021
https://sustainablefoodtrust.org/articles/gene-editing-will-further-narrow-gene-pool-and-intensify-food-and-farming-systems/
* Our CEO Patrick Holden comments on the government’s proposals to allow gene-editing in the UK, with the launch of a new consultation on genetic technologies.
A major downside of Brexit is that it has given the government the opportunity to permit the use of gene editing to further intensify our food and farming systems.
Of course, like all other technologies, gene editing could be used for good or ill. But in all likelihood, given the current UK administration’s infatuation with technological fixes and its conviction that only further intensification can feed a hungry world, gene editing is likely to be deployed in such a way that it will further accelerate the devastating narrowing of the gene pool which has been a feature of postwar farming, not only in the UK but throughout the world.
There is an erroneous conviction that through plant breeding we can somehow magically develop plants which are drought and disease resistant, salt tolerant and at the same time produce increased quantities of nutrient dense food. This is simply gravity-defying nonsense. The precondition for the production of healthy food is a fertile soil, but the gene editors have forgotten this and instead are hell-bent on perpetuating the extractive industry which modern farming has become.
On the animal front, we can expect livestock to be bred to live even shorter lives, with all the horrific attendant animal welfare consequences, erroneously justified on the grounds of reduced greenhouse gas emissions and leaner meat, because that is the fashion. This will make the challenges we face even greater.
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