Animal welfare by genome editing? Animal ethical perspectives on genome editing in farm animals

2018年上半年，德国的商业屠宰场屠宰了2840万头猪和170万头牛。更不用说羔羊，绵羊和山羊以及最重要的家禽。这些动物中的大多数在被屠宰前都有痛苦的生活。今天生产肉、奶和蛋的条件导致数百万牲畜系统地生病，并伴随着严重的疼痛和痛苦。假设由不少动物伦理学家提出的完全放弃使用和消费牲畜的要求至少在中期内不会占上风，那么紧迫的问题就出现了，如何才能实现更动物友好的畜牧业实践。在这种情况下，动物增强或动物减强的技术选择已经讨论了几年，这可能适合于最大限度地减少畜牧业对受影响动物的负面影响，或者至少部分地完全避免它们。因此，牲畜的技术“改进”不仅可以满足人类在增加产品数量和优化产品质量方面的利益，而且还可以保护动物免受痛苦、负担和损害。尤其是新的基因组编辑技术，它可以为改善养殖动物的福利做出潜在的重大贡献。在此背景下，本研究项目旨在识别和批判性评估在动物育种中使用各种基因组编辑方法的动物福利相关优势，同时考虑相关的动物伦理论点和立场。在这种情况下，“福利保护原则”（罗林）将受到批判性的讨论，一个替代的，“务实”的建议将被开发和辩护，并在牲畜育种中的基因组编辑的各种方法的应用“非同一性问题”将被检查。

In the first half of 2018, 28.4 million pigs and 1.7 million cattle were slaughtered on commercial slaughterhouses in Germany. Not to mention lambs, sheep and goats as well as above all poultry. Most of these animals had a painful life before slaughter. The conditions under which meat, milk and eggs are produced today cause millions of livestock to systematically become ill and are associated with grave pain and suffering. Assuming that the demand for a complete renunciation of the use and consumption of livestock, which is raised by not a few animal ethicists, at least in the medium term will not prevail, the pressing question arises, how a more animal-friendly practice of livestock husbandry can look like.In this context, technical options for Animal Enhancement or Animal Disenhancement have been discussed for some years, which could be suitable for minimizing the negative consequences of livestock farming for the affected animals or - at least in part - completely avoiding them. The technical "improvement" of livestock thus could not only satisfy the human interest in larger product quantities and optimized product qualities, but also protect animals from suffering, burdens and impairments. This is especially true for the new genome editing techniques, which can make a - potentially significant - contribution to improving the welfare of farmed animals.Against this background, this research project aims to identify and critically assess animal welfare-relevant advantages of using the various methods of genome editing in animal breeding, taking into account relevant animal ethical arguments and positions. In this context, the "principle of conservation of welfare" (Rollin) will be subjected to a critical discussion, an alternative, "pragmatic" proposal will be developed and defended and the "problem of non-identity" with regard to the application of the various methods of genome editing in livestock breeding will be examined.