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FatPhil [reversethis-{if.fdsa} {ta} {tnelyos-cp}] writes:

Nature reports on advances in the genetic modification of pigs to create safer organs for human transplants:

For decades, scientists and doctors have dreamed of creating a steady supply of human organs for transplantation by growing them in pigs. But concerns about rejection by the human immune system and infection by viruses embedded in the pig genome have stymied research. Now, by modifying more than 60 genes in pig embryos — ten times more than have been edited in any other animal — researchers believe they may have produced a suitable non-human organ donor.

The work was presented on 5 October at a meeting of the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in Washington DC on human gene editing. Geneticist George Church of Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, announced that he and colleagues had used the CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technology to inactivate 62 porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERVs) in pig embryos. These viruses are embedded in all pigs’ genomes and cannot be treated or neutralized. It is feared that they could cause disease in human transplant recipients.
-- http://www.nature.com/news/gene-editing-record-smashed-in-pigs-1.18525?WT.mc_id=SFB_NNEWS_1508_RHBox [nature.com]

There have been several CRISPR stories in the news in the last few years since, and there seems no reason to think that there won't be ever more intrusive modifications in the future. Which leads one to question whether there's will be a point down the road where we're literally building a new animal. Finding possible ethical issues is like shooting fish in a barrel - for example, if we can create pigs, or other animals, which regenerate organs, and then we can keep harvesting those organs for the entire life of the animal.
More on CRISPR here: https://www.addgene.org/crispr/guide/ [addgene.org]

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