Relaxing gene-editing rules may lead to tail-less pigs, experts warn

PIGS could be genetically edited to be tail-less under a Government policy, scientists have warned.

Plans to relax genome-editing rules following Brexit should not lead to a reduction in animal welfare, an influential panel has said.

In a report, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics warned that careful regulation was needed to avoid a move towards more intensive farming practices and ensure that farmed animals still had a good quality of life.

Pigs bite one another’s tails, especially when kept in close confinement, which means they often end up having them docked.

Breeding pigs without tails could be one way of addressing this problem, but would be “morally problematic”, the council warned, and could make it more likely that pigs are kept in confined conditions because the tail-biting problem would no longer arise.

John Dupré, chairman of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics working group and professor of philosophy at the University of Exeter, said the council was “deeply concerned” that gene editing “not be used to adapt animals to conditions that could not conceivably provide them with a life worth living”.

He added: “So for example, the problem of pigs so crowded and bored that they turn to chewing one another’s tails should not be solved by breeding pigs either lacking tails or so docile as not to be bothered by boredom.

“In the concluding part of the report, we propose a series of policies with these aims in mind, that should apply not just to genome editing, but to any technology used to direct the course of farmed animal breeding.”

These include introducing food labelling which allows the public to access information about breeding practices, living conditions and animals’ diet, and consulting properly with the public before changing the law.

Food retailers should also only sell meat from animals that are bred responsibly, the group said.

Genome editing, which involves the precise modification of DNA to change the function of genes, is at the research stage for food sources including animals such as chicken, pigs and cows.

The Government recently suggested that it plans to relax regulations for animals bred using genome-editing techniques, which would only apply in England.

A consultation ran earlier this year.