March
1997
Genetic
Engineering and the Future of Domestic Fowl
By Karen Davis
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For thousands of years, human beings have manipulated
the bodies and family life of birds for their flesh, eggs and
other characteristics. As Karen Davis of United Poultry Concerns
explains, genetic engineering is taking this manipulation to
new levels.
Chickens and turkeys are foraging birds unsuited to the life we impose
upon them in order to satisfy human wants in the modern world. The
forced rapid growth of their bodies for meat production, causing severe
skeletal and metabolic sicknesses, are clear examples of this abnormal
existence. Yet, a major thrust of genetic engineering is to increase
even more their abnormal growth rate for the benefit of the meat industry.
Promises, Protocols and Problems
There are three major aspects of genetic engineering that are clear.
First, there are several promises held by proponents of avian genetic
manipulation. Secondly, certain laboratory protocols exist that are
designed to manipulate birds genetically and that test various hypotheses.
Thirdly, genetic engineers of birds have identified certain technical
and practical problems.
The promises include the completion of a chicken genetic map for the
food industry and the manipulation of growth characteristics in poultry
for meat production. The practitioners, in addition, promise chickens
with resistance to certain economically damaging diseases such as avian
leukosis and Marek's disease - a viral cancer of the chicken's nervous
system resulting from the concentrated confinement of "too many feathers." Proponents
of this manipulation vow that with such genetic modification, hen's
eggs will have less cholesterol, the flavor of the broiler chickens
will improve, and specific tailoring of the chicken's muscle tissue
will ensure better microwave cooking.
The protocols introduced include injecting foreign DNA into chick embryos.
From there, recombinant genes can be introduced into the embryos before
and during incubation. In addition, non-incubated embryos receive an
injection to produce transgenic chickens. Lastly, embryonic cells from
one group of birds are frozen and thawed, a process known as "cryopreservation." These
cells are then inserted into another group of birds to create a stock
of genetic resources for future agricultural use.
Proponents have nevertheless found numerous problems with this entire
process. For instance, the newly fertilized egg resists the injection
of DNA into the embryo designed to change the egg's genetic make up.
Also, researchers have a poor understanding of the developmental capabilities
and regulatory growth mechanisms in birds, and have had trouble controlling
the relationship between mutations in one generation of birds and those
which are carried from one generation to the next. Certain "side effects" tend
to crop up, researchers reveal, including high death rate, short life
span, biological weakness, and pathology syndromes such as lymphoid
leukosis (found in transgenic birds). In addition, the embryonic cells
deteriorate as they are frozen and thawed. Other problems cited by
the proponents include long, laborious breeding programs and uncertainty
about regulatory agencies, animals advocate and consumers.
Ethics and the Future of Domestic Fowl
Animals used in genetic engineering are decomposed into body parts
or pieces of information -žmere human property without value or claims
in their own right. Further, some sectors of society view genetically-altered
beings as inherently inferior to "natural" animals. Therefore, the
misery of a genetically-engineered hen - already a "low" status animal
- is not as "real" as the misery imposed upon a "normal" hen.
In the future, however, there may be no "normal" hens. According to
Robert Burruss, writing in the Baltimore Sun, we soon may no longer
recognize chickens at all. "Mature hens will be beheaded and hooked
up en masse to industrial-scale versions of the heart-lung machines
that brain-dead human beings need a court order to get unplugged from," he
writes. "Since the chickens won't move, cages won't be needed. Nutrients,
hormones and metabolic stimulants will be fed in superabundance into
mechanically oxygenated blood to crank up egg production to three per
day, maybe five or even 10.
"Since no digestive tract will be needed, it can go when the head goes, along
with the heart and lungs, and the feathers too. The naked, headless, gutless
chicken will crank out eggs until its ovaries burn out. When a sensor senses
that no egg has dropped within the last four to six hours, the carcass will be
released onto a conveyor, chopped, sliced, steamed and made into soup, burgers
and dog food."
Karen Davis is president of United Poultry
Concerns. For a copy of the paper from which this piece was
taken, send $5 to UPC, P.O. Box 59367, Potomac, MD 20859
or visit their website at www.envirolink.org/arrs/upc.
Her most recent book, Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs: The
Inside Story of Modern Poultry Farming is available from
The Book Publishing Company.
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