The technology involved in Genetic Engineering also affects animals as well and there are many cons involved here as well. GE and cloning are applied to animals to make precious pharmaceuticals which cannot be made in any other way. Thus human proteins can be produced in animal milk and used in therapies such as factor IX where sheep are treated for blood clotting disorders. But there is a great consequence to this technology. Hundreds of sheep are mutilated and murdered for these experiments. Also sheep born from those inserted with GE technology are huge or deformed and those not born stillborn often die when they are very young. Also animals used to produce proteins and pharmaceuticals are often forced to live in strange conditions which can violate their normal way of life.

    GE technology is also used to create animals whose organs can then be injected into human beings. Thus if a human is in danger of having heart failure, a pig's heart can be injected into them to save their life. But there is a huge risk when a human receives this kind of treatment. If the animal from which the organ was taken has a disease, it could spread to the human. Thus many humans could contract diseases and scientists may find no cure. Why should more types of diseases be introduced into society? Many animals also spend their lives in pain and full of disease. Thus animals cannot be a good model for helping to cure human diseases.

    A huge use of GE on animals is in the subject of cloning. With the cloning of animals such as Dolly, the cloned sheep, breeding of different varieties can be sped up. But cloned animals have chromosomes which show adult structures. Thus we can say that Dolly was born as an adult. Also in the case of cloning pigs, and particularly the experiment in the United States known as the Beltsville Pigs, inserted human growth hormones were not found to be as beneficial as originally thought. Originally it was believed that this hormone would make them grow faster, but they were found to be arthritic and blind. Thus creating animal breeds by GE caused too much suffering for animals. They should not have to deal with these kinds of problems.

    The genetic engineering of new types of animals such as insects, fish, and birds also have the possibility of disturbing the natural ecosystem. They can displace natural species and upset the balance of other animals through their new behavior which results from GE.
 
 
 
 

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Created as part of a term project for SCEN103 at the University of Delaware Comments, suggestions, or requests to jeffmay@udel.edu "http://www.udel.edu/physics/scen103/CGZ/consofanimals.html" Last updated May 8, 2000. Copyright Jen Franchino, Vinnie Verruto, Allison Zuckerbrow,  Jeff May, Univ. of Delaware, 2000