NationStates Jolt Archive

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17808219-13762,00.html

Now all we need are green eggs.

There was a thread last week. It is rather cool though.

Is this a joke? Cause if it's not... that's a terrible thing to do imo.

Is this a joke? Cause if it's not... that's a terrible thing to do imo.
Why? It's not like it hurts, and now they don't need a bedside light to read in the evening.

how cruel, how are they supposed to hide from their natural predators now.

Why? It's not like it hurts, and now they don't need a bedside light to read in the evening.
How would you know? Ever tried? Who are we to play around with animals lives like this? Would you appreciate having a glow-in-the-dark sibling? Would he/she?

A glow-in-the-dark dog would be useful. You'd never lose your dog :D

How would you know? Ever tried? Who are we to play around with animals lives like this? Would you appreciate having a glow-in-the-dark sibling? Would he/she?
It's not like they're screwing with nerve endings, this is just the addition of a gene taken from jellyfish. (Here's the original link with a bit more information than the other.) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4605202.stm). The link says it'll make it more feasible to track stem cell growth in stem cell therapy, using these glowing cells. Wait, you're saying pigs have a sense of injustice? That they're gonna harbour resentment to us for us making them different?

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeew is all...

Wait, you're saying pigs have a sense of injustice? That they're gonna harbour resentment to us for us making them different?

Umm, just wait... with all this genetic fiddling, some of the pigs will become self aware pretty soon...


.

Wait, you're saying pigs have a sense of injustice? That they're gonna harbour resentment to us for us making them different?
No, I'm saying just because they don't object doesn't make it any less wrong (in my eyes). Because if that was the case, we could just as well have fluorescent mentally disabled people. That way they'd really stick out of the crowd :eek:

So how long till they start selling green bacon?

So how long till they start selling green bacon?
The thing is, I might actually buy it one hangover laden morning...

No, I'm saying just because they don't object doesn't make it any less wrong (in my eyes). Because if that was the case, we could just as well have fluorescent mentally disabled people. That way they'd really stick out of the crowd :eek:
So if you object to this sort of fiddling, where do you draw the line? Would creating glowing mice be wrong? What about fruit flies, or single celled organisms? And I think you might be blurring the line between animals and humans here; there is a world of difference between experimenting on pigs, and experimenting on mentally disabled people (on a pedantic sidenote, this change was introduced at the fertilization stage, so you couldn't make flourescent disabled people). The change is harmless (ok, as far as we know it's harmless, but there's no reason to assume it's dangerous), the pigs are able to live a fairly normal life, as they only wanted glowing pig stem cells.

My grandparents owned a butcher shop, which meant that my mother worked with meat. So when I heard green pork I thought (in my limited, two degrees of seperation understanding of how these things work) was that it was pork that had to be aged slightly before it could be eaten. I don't really know how green meats work, I've just heard the whole thing in passing.

how cruel, how are they supposed to hide from their natural predators now.

They're domesticated pigs. They don't have any natural predators.

Alinania: Um, exactly how does making a green-tinged pig hurt it in any way? No defects have been reported, except that most of the implanted embryos failed- and that's to be expected from any genetics work. The pigs seem to be fine; the only possible repurcussion is that it may be more difficult for them to mate (I don't know anything about breeding pigs, so I can't really say anything here); if females will still mate with them, then that means the pigs have suffered no negative side effects. What's the problem?

Alinania: Um, exactly how does making a green-tinged pig hurt it in any way? No defects have been reported, except that most of the implanted embryos failed- and that's to be expected from any genetics work. The pigs seem to be fine; the only possible repurcussion is that it may be more difficult for them to mate (I don't know anything about breeding pigs, so I can't really say anything here); if females will still mate with them, then that means the pigs have suffered no negative side effects. What's the problem?
I never said it hurts them. I highly doubt it does. But that doesn't make it any more justifiable... I guess it's an ethical question and I am strongly opposed to messing around with animals in that way.
So if you object to this sort of fiddling, where do you draw the line?
Exactly, where does one draw the line? Just because it doesn't hurt and it looks funny doesn't make it acceptable in my eyes.