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posted by cmn32480 on Thursday February 02 2017, @04:57PM   Printer-friendly
from the teenage-mutant-ninja-doggies dept.

Ishee, a member of what's called the "biohacker" movement, says he is hoping to use inexpensive new gene-editing techniques to modify the genes of Dalmatians. By repairing a single DNA letter in their genomes, Ishee believes, he can rid them of an inherited disease, hyper uricemia, almost as closely associated with the breed as their white coats and black spots.

In early January, Ishee sent the agency a sketch of his plans to fix Dalmatians expecting to be told no approval was needed. He didn't immediately hear back—and soon found out why. On January 18, the agency released a sweeping new proposal to regulate cattle, pigs, dogs, and other animals modified with gene-editing.

The federal health agency already regulates transgenic animals—those with DNA added from a different species. But what about a dog whose genome has been tweaked to repair a disease gene? Or to endow it with the gene for a trait, like fluffy fur, already found in another canine? According to the newly proposed regulations, such creations will also need federal approval before entering the marketplace.

Is it government overreach, or do such restrictions make sense?


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by sjames on Thursday February 02 2017, @08:32PM

    by sjames (2882) on Thursday February 02 2017, @08:32PM (#462084) Journal

    In the case of crop modifications, I urge a great deal of caution given that we have already seen modifications escape into the wild, but in this case, the likelihood of this resulting in packs of wild mutant dal-wolves roaming the forests seems small enough to make the attempt permissible.

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