Ethical Issues in Transgenic Mice and the Benefits on Human Welfare
Presently, there has been a breakthrough in molecular biology with engineering transgenic animals. Transgenic animals are animals that carry genes from another species. This technology has created transgenic animals such as mice, rats, horses, chickens, goats, pigs, sheep and cows. The use of this technology brings with it ethical issues. This issue needs to be considered by stakeholders, to ensure that all parties are aware of the issues at stake and can make a valid contribution to this current debate regarding the creation and use of genetically engineered animals. Even though there have been many ethical issues surrounding transgenic animals it has benefited humans’ health and could cure various diseases.
The majority of transgenic animals that were produced were mice, which is the animal that started this technology. The first successful transgenic animal was the mice via viral infection in the 1970’s. During the 1980’s the first transgenic mice via microinjection, which is the most performed technique. In 1985, the first transgenic sheep, rabbits, pigs and cattle were created, and in the 1990’s transgenic farm animal companies were seen as bioreactors and organ donors. The main logic of genetically altering animals is some transgenic animals are produced for specific economic traits. An example could be that a transgenic goat was created to produce milk containing specific human proteins that led to the treatment of diarrhea in kids from a third world country. A transgenic animal as said before is an animal that has been genetically altered so that it will produce a specific protein. This happens by foreign DNA being inserted into the animals’ DNA which scientists use to study human diseases that the animals are not normally susceptible to. In the Transgenic article, there are two methods