Ethical issues of transgenic animals

Transgenic animals raise several particular moral issues (quite apart from any damage they might do to the environment):

• Are animals that combine species an unethical alteration of the natural order of the universe?
• Is it unethical to modify an animal's genetic make-up for a specific purpose, without knowing in advance if there will be any side-effects that will cause suffering to the animal?
• Does 'creating' animals by genetic engineering amount to treat the animals entirely as commodities?
• Is it unethical to create 'diseased' animals that are very likely to suffer?
• Suffering may last for a long time in these animals as researchers want to conduct long-term investigations into the development of diseases

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(Useful for UPSC General Studies, APPSC Group 1 Group 2 , Mains Material, Paper 1, Paper 4 Section 1 Section 2 Section 3, ROLE AND IMPACT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDIA, GENERAL AWARENESS WITH THE MODERN TRENDS IN LIFE SCIENCES, DEVELOPMENT & ENVIRONMENT PROBLEMS)