Ban sought on genetic engineering of animals

HYDERABAD - Humane Society International (HIS), an animal welfare group, wants a ban on the genetic engineering and cloning of farm animals aimed at boosting egg, meat or milk production.

The society has urged India’s GM regulator, Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), to prohibit genetic engineering to save animals from suffering.

Thanking GEAC for opposing the development of transgenic chicken at the Project Directorate on Poultry, Hyderabad, the group said developments in biotechnology had raised new concerns about animal welfare.

“Because animal agri-business prioritizes extreme productivity, there are epidemics of so-called production diseases among many farmed animal species,” it said.

“Cows have been made into such milk machines, mastitis (udder infections) and lameness are the two leading causes of dairy cow mortality,” it said in a letter to GEAC.

“Chickens have been inflicted with such rapid muscling that billions of them suffer every year in chronic pain from skeletal disorders that impair even their ability to walk,” it added.