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The US has approved CRISPR pigs for foodwww.technologyreview.com/2025/05/02/1116059/the-us-approves-crispr-pigs-for-food/
342 sats \ 8 comments \ @k00b 6 May food_and_drinks
no paywall: https://archive.is/PbQSR
Most pigs in the US are confined to factory farms where they can be afflicted by a nasty respiratory virus that kills piglets. The illness is called porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, or PRRS. A few years ago, a British company called Genus set out to design pigs immune to this germ using CRISPR gene editing. Not only did they succeed, but its pigs are now poised to enter the food chain following approval of the animals this week by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Culbertson says gene-edited pork could appear in the US market sometime next year. He says the company does not think pork chops or other meat will need to carry any label identifying it as bioengineered. "We aren't aware of any labelling requirement," Culbertson says.
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149 sats \ 4 replies \ @kepford 6 May
OR we could use sustainable farming techniques... I do not like this one bit.
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67 sats \ 3 replies \ @k00b OP 6 May
It was inevitable I think and will only intensify until most meat is lab grown.
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22 sats \ 2 replies \ @kepford 6 May
I agree. The only hope is if people (the market) demand different meat. Right now its just hipsters and the wealthy. I've been buying direct as much as I can from regen ranches and farms for the last 4-5 years now. The quality is so much better.
And that is how we win this. These lab grown and feed lot methods are not only bad quality but bad for our local environments. Sustainable farming is not just not bad, it can improve the local environments. That's on top of the quality improvement.
The nut jobs that think meat is the problem aren't the real problem though. Its fiat driving people to the lowest margin products. Money is the motivator for all of this IMO.
Pisses me off and I have to step away from thinking about it to much. Its so obvious to me and so not obvious to most people. The centrality of the fiat system wrecking so much of our world and cultures.
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78 sats \ 1 reply \ @k00b OP 6 May
I don't expect the market to wake up about this stuff anytime soon. I suspect that'll take so very long that we'll produce actually healthy lab grown meats before that happens.
We'll lose all the grassland benefits of sustainably raised ruminants, which is probably the worst consequence of this kind of "modernization," but getting the world to scale that up is another seemingly intractable education problem.
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19 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford 6 May
I hope you're wrong but you could be right.
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0 sats \ 2 replies \ @zapsammy 6 May
if this biological modification is real, and actually works as described, while making the pig appear less sick, i wonder how does the pig magically feel and appear less sick? this must be something to do with eliminating the pig's natural immune reaction to the toxin that is in its environment - which means the toxin will remain in the pig without making it look sick, and then the people eat the pig along with the said toxin.
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79 sats \ 1 reply \ @k00b OP 6 May
No, the edit makes it immune to a virus not a "toxin," which means the virus cannot replicate in the pigs now.
It's kind of like how if you got chickenpox when you were a kid and get exposed now, you don't get sick and spread it as an adult.
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11 sats \ 0 replies \ @zapsammy 6 May
are u aware of the etymology of the word "virus?" https://www.etymonline.com/word/virus
also, a "viral structure" as it is taught in state-sponsored textbooks has never been isolated, which the scientism community admits, when questioned enough.
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