Is It Ethical To Engineer Delicious Cows That Feel No Pain?

Worth noting that "pain free" doesn't necessarily mean "free of suffering." There are many elements of the meat-cow business, particularly with respect to living conditions and stressors, that result in suffering in the animals it involves.

Definitely an interesting concept, though. I wonder if it might be eventually extended to humans (intentionally... not just the rare genetic exception)-- imagine what an athlete who cannot feel pain could achieve in competition with one who feels 'the burn.'

I would rather eat a cloned cow that felt pain than one born but couldn't feel pain. If it doesn't feel pain then how would an observer know if it was sutable for consumption if it was walking like the rest but had something that would make it unhealthy for consumption?

Suffering is a matter of perspective and opinion. Pain is a biological response. Completely different things, it is true that one can lead to another...but not always

@taylorhengen in most animals and humans this condition leads to disfigurement, crippling and eventually death.

The pain response lets us know when we receive damage and then keeps us from damaging ourselves further. Without it incidental damage goes unnoticed and eventually builds up. This is the cause of most of the disfigurement from leprosy.

Not something you want to do for any real length of time.

mitEj-- yes, good point, of course pain has its purpose and is fundamental to survival in that it informs us of our physical condition, especially if that condition is worsening and needs attention. But with scientific advances, "can" and "should" are usually treated as separate concepts. I wonder if, in the event that they can extend this to humans, whether someone out there will justify the 'should,' and in what context. I'm not commenting on whether that will be justified or wise.

Yummy. electroniccigarettesinc.com

Regardless of the ethics of creating animals that feel no pain, the sad fact is that the cow as we know it (and the horse, and the turkey and most domesticated animals) now exist in nature in only isolated and shrinking habitats. I recently received an email from an old friend bemoaning the sport of horse racing. It is a pretty brutal occupation, but if we did not raise cattle for meat and horses to ride, they would probably soon be extinct.

Its not a practical idea at all. How do you keep cows in their field?? Barbed wire or Electric fence are the methods most used. Those only work due to the small amount of pain they inflict. If a cow felt no pain it would tear through fencing, hurting itself and others when it gets hit by a car on the road.

Let's get back to making cats that glow in the dark.

In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the genetically modified cow wanted to be eaten and would tell you so.

If American culture has taught us anything, it is that the natural nature of all life is to eat too much, sleep too much, and spend the rest of the time resting on our flabby bottoms.

This life is intentionally cultured for cattle, who are only restrained with discomfort a human (at much lesser mass) can deal with (I have often tested cow fences with the back of my hand).

Then, they are quickly and unknowingly killed without suffering the injuries and indignities of old age.

This sounds more like a strage utopia than suffering.

If you want suffering, go talk to the chickens. Their life sucks.

It doesn’t matter if it is ethical- it’s pointless. To keep the animals healthy and growing quickly until slaughter, they are protected from most sorts of stress, let alone painful events (stress and stress hormones really *do* affect the taste of the meat). Any creature without pain receptors would accumulate minor injuries that can become life threatening. To go through genetic engineering, causing increased problems with veterinary care and handling, merely to spare the animals an instant of pain before oblivion, is simply irrational.

The use of captive-bolt stunners puts the animal out in milliseconds with no time to experience pain. Having once been knocked unconscious by a blow to the head, I can assure you that it is a painless experience. Waking up wasn’t painless, but the cattle won’t get to wake up again, of course- if you’re going to eat meat, don’t be squeamish about it, grow up and admit that creatures must die to put meat on your table.

"I think I'll just have a green salad," he muttered.

"May I urge you to consider my liver?" asked the animal, "it must be very rich and tender by now, I've been force-feeding myself for months."

"A green salad," said Arthur emphatically.

"A green salad?" said the animal, rolling his eyes disapprovingly at Arthur.

"Are you going to tell me," said Arthur, "that I shouldn't have green salad?"

"Well," said the animal, "I know many vegetables that are very clear on that point. Which is why it was eventually decided to cut through the whole tangled problem and breed an animal that actually wanted to be eaten and was capable of saying so clearly and distinctly. And here I am."

I thought the plan was to grow boneless cubes of beef and skip the whole "painfree animal with broken legs walking in a pasture full of gophur holes" phase. The benefits are obvious - the cubes don't pass gas.

I too await grown meat cubes... Eventually grown in the comfort of your own home to your exact fat content and marbling specifications. I'd easily pay double the current price of great steak for a perfect custom steak.

"Every moving thing that lives shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things."

I was wondering when a quote from GOD himself would be included.... I wonder no longer...

Not sure how my cows are supposed to be suffering pain. I just looked out into my pasture and they are quietly sitting waiting for their evening feed. When I take them to be butchered, they have no idea what hits them before being processed.
Hey cows, 'Is alright?' they answered, 'Is alright!'

Oh mY gOd mY cOw sTuBbeD iTs tOe...wHaT sHouLd I doOo?

A) Give it anesthetics
B) Take it to the hospital
C) Engeneer its genetics so I t feels no pain
D) All of the above

This is totally insane! After reading the comments section I can only conclude some of the readers are more intelligent than the scientists who are pursuing this.

As someone noted: How are the farmers supposed to keep cattle that are insensitive to pain in their fields?

And as someone else noted the actual killing of cattle is a painless procedure, the cattle are rendered instantly unconscious...so what would be the benefit in engineering pain free cattle? Infections from needless injury caused by pain insensitivity would result...No doubt about that.