Genome editing and farmed animal breeding: social and ethical issues

Activity

Executive summary
1. This report was prompted by the emergence of new biological techniques for making precise, targeted alterations to DNA molecules in living cells (‘genome editing’) and the prospect of new breeding technologies built on them. The report considers the implications of these prospective breeding technologies in livestock and aquaculture, in the context of the broader food and farming system, particularly in relation to social and moral values. It takes a broad view, considering not only the potential implications of prospective breeding technologies for actors within food and farming systems but also implications of the innovation, diffusion, and normalisation of those technologies in the food and farming system for the societies they serve and the challenges they face.
2. The report comprises six main substantive chapters and a seventh chapter that draws out and draws together the main propositions that form the ‘backbone’ of the report, together with specific recommendations. This summary gives a brief overview of the content of the report.

Description

Cited work:

Pearson S, May D, Leontidis G et al. (2019) Are distributed ledger technologies the panacea for food traceability? Global
Food Security 20: 145-9.

Period	1 Dec 2021
Work for	Nuffield Council on Bioethics, United Kingdom
Degree of Recognition	International