A transgenic animal is an animal that has an integrated gene or DNA sequence ‘transgene’ that has been transferred by human intervention into the genome of a cell. The production of transgenes provides methods that can rapidly introduce ‘new' or modified genes and DNA sequences into livestock without crossbreeding or hybridizing.10 Applications... Agricultural Sector: Transgenic animal technology has been a very important development for the Agriculture sector as it enabled the development of new and improved strains of livestock. One of the major applications of transgenics in the Agriculture sector is the method of Breeding. Traditional …show more content…
Despite the vast number of benefits associated with transgenic animal technology, there are however some risks and ethical concerns surrounding the methodology. One of the concerns is human health and welfare. People are very hesitant to consume genetically altered food products because they fear that they will cause them harm due to the lack of testing on GM animals. But what about the welfare of the animals? Many transgenic animals, such as disease models have disease symptoms induced upon them that can lead to deformaties, suffering and a reduced lifespan. Animals that have increased growth hormone expression provide more food and faster growth than normal animals, however that abnormal growth leads to symptoms of arthritis, stress, irregular heart and lung fuctions and early death. 2 The most prominent ethical issue surrounding transgenics is the fact that by using these animals and their lifespan to solve human problems, they are then worth less than humans. This is usually in regards to primates rather than mice or rats.2 Many ethical issues stem from religious beliefs, some individuals belief that crossing species bounderies is immortal, unatural and a violation of Gods laws.