British pets could be subjected to gene editing under a bill introduced by the British government, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) said.
The animal charity said that the draft Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act applies to all vertebrate animals, not only farmed animals, and that it could lead to cats and dogs being gene-edited to include extreme features.
The law allows the creation and marketing of “precision-bred” or genome-edited plants and vertebrate animals in the UK.
Photo: Reuters
The government said it would allow farmers to grow crops that are drought and disease resistant, reduce the use of fertilizers and pesticides, and help breed animals that are protected from catching harmful diseases.
British Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Therese Coffey described the act, which received royal assent on Thursday, as a “Brexit freedom,” but the RSPCA said it could have dire consequences for animal welfare.
RSPCA campaign and public affairs head David Bowles criticized what he described as an “ill-judged policy.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
He said the charity had tried to get the government to include an exemption for pets, but was “sadly ignored.”
“Gene editing could be a huge step backwards for animals,” he said. “We do not believe this act should include animals, whether they are farm, pet or wildlife. Invasive procedures are needed to create each line of gene-edited mammals, there is no history of use for this powerful technology, and it can cause unintended changes to the genome, with unpredictable effects. The RSPCA has serious animal welfare and ethical concerns about this.”
Genome editing is a group of techniques that enable changes to an organism’s DNA.
The RSPCA said that editing an animal’s genome involved procedures that could cause “pain, suffering, distress and lasting harm.”
Gene editing has long been subject to the strict rules and regulations that control genetically modified organisms (GMOs), but under the act, gene-edited animals and food would not be classified as GMOs and would not need to be labeled as such.
There are concerns that a demand for cats and dogs with extreme appearances could cause breeders to use gene editing to create pets with these characteristics.
“We feel there is no justification whatsoever for nonfarm animals to be covered by the [legislation],” Bowles said. “Ongoing demands for dogs and cats with harmful physical characteristics and exaggerated conformational features, and relentless pressure on sporting animals, are already of deep concern, and there has been no public consultation on gene editing nonfarm animals.”
The government has said it would take a “step-by-step” approach when releasing the regulatory framework that goes with the act.
It said in a press release: “While there is great potential for increasing innovation, the government recognises that there is a need to safeguard animal welfare in the new regulatory framework. That is why we are taking a step-by-step approach, enabling use of precision breeding technologies with plants first followed by animals later.”
However, the RSPCA does not think vertebrate animals should be in the act at all, let alone nonfarmed creatures such as pets.
“By allowing the inclusion of all vertebrate animals within this [legislation], the UK government is opening a Pandora’s box of what could be allowed in the future,” Bowles said.
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