University of Missouri-Columbia. (2018, October 15). Virus-resistant pigs to vastly improve global animal health. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 19, 2018 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/10/181015132934.htm
Researchers at the University of Missouri have been able to breed genetically altered pigs that were immune to Transmissible Gastroenteritis Virus (TGEV), a virus that has a 100% mortality rate in infant pigs that are infected. The researchers are glad they will be able to minimize animal suffering, because these are promising results for the eradication of other deadly viruses. They also hope to alleviate some of the financial burden farmers face when their animals become ill, and thus make raising these animals for slaughter a more sustainable system.
This relates to environmental science in that not only are humans altering a species and its population dynamics, but the fact that this is being done with animals that we consume means we may be impacting our industrialized food system. As we have recently learned in class, the way people in most developed countries get their meat is unsustainable. It seems genetically engineering certain animals to be more resistant to disease may make the process more sustainable and alleviate some of the damaging environmental impacts livestock raising has.
Really interesting and hopeful research, I’m hopeful that such pigs could become common place in the near future. Have such pigs been tested to see if they have any unintended side effects or consequences for the health of consumers?
I think it is good that they found a cure for a virus occurring frequently in pigs, but I worry that a new virus will come up again. Keeping animals in CAFO’s causes diseases to spread rapidly, so finding a cure for one virus is not solving the larger issue. I think farmers need to look at how they are farming their animals in order to prevent disease rather than looking to genetics to solve their problems.
What is the cause of this disease/virus?