Imagine a life without pain. Not being able to feel anything that
might hurt. One would imagine that this would be fantastic and would make a
person almost invincible. This, however, is not the case. A life without pain
means a very cautious life. You cannot feel if you are cut or scraped. You
would have no feel for what might be harming your body. With recent innovations
in science, scientists believe they may have found a way to eliminate the
ability to feel pain in animals by modifying and possibly removing certain
genes. Many look upon this as a method to allow for the humane raising and
slaughter of factory farm animals.
In 2009, researchers have found several genes and enzymes that, when not present, can reduce or eliminate the ability for animals to feel pain. The researchers propose the animals currently raised in factory farms could be bred without these certain genes and enzymes, therefore eliminating any suffering the animals may experience while in the factory farm. However, researchers say that this does not pose a technological issue but rather an ethical one. These discoveries and proposals have sparked controversy about whether or not it is in fact inhumane to deny these animals the right to feel pain.
A philosopher at Washington University in St. Louis said “if we can’t do away with factory farming, we should at least take steps to minimize the amount of suffering that is caused.”
“Since the 1960s, human consumption of meant has increased 50%”
After reading this article I believe that this is a good idea with good intent but the consequences it could have provide enough justification to reject the idea. If the animals were bred to not feel pain, the farmers and people operating the factory farms would have no reason what so ever to treat them with any respect. If a worker wanted to they could stab a cow with a pitchfork and the cow wouldn’t care and if the cow doesn’t care why should the human? Another possible consequence is that if some of the animals escaped they could reproduce outside containment leading to the distribution of the pain-less characteristic among wild animals. These animals may either be very easy prey for other animals as they would be very weak and not take care of their own bodies or may be a much tougher foe as the animal will fight until it’s body can no longer maintain it’s life. Either way the introduction of the pain-less characteristic could severely disrupt the balance of nature. From this article I will take away this new knowledge of the capabilities of modern science and what applications and disadvantages it may have.
