The FDA approval of genetically engineered salmon for human consumption raised the curtain on a “menagerie of gene-edited animals … already being raised on farms and in laboratories around the world — some designed for food, some to fight disease, some, perhaps, as pets,” reports the New York Times.
The challenges of biotechnology are becoming easier to surmount. Professor Bruce Whitelaw of the University of Edinburgh tells the Times that the question for society is changing to “Will we allow it?” from the earlier issue of whether gene engineering would work.
Biotech backers say the advances make it easier to show consumers the advantages of the technology – mosquitoes that don’t spread malaria, cashmere goats that grow longer hair, livestock that are naturally resistant to diseases.
The FDA ” has not said how or whether it will regulate the gene-edited animals to come. But even with the government’s stamp of approval, biotechnology advocates know that farmers are unlikely to embrace technology if they fear consumers will reject it,” said the Times.