Gene-editing move to tackle animal disease
AMOVE to relax regulations around gene editing could be a “game-changer” in tackling animal diseases such as avian flu that has wiped out millions of birds in the UK, according to a leading vet.
As well as improving welfare, it could also bring environmental benefits, Lord Trees told Parliament.
The independent crossbencher, who is emertius professor at the University of Liverpool and a former president of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, made his comments as he gave his backing to the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill.
The legislation would remove EU measures preventing the development and marketing of “precision-bred” plants and animals using techniques such as gene editing. The changes would create a new framework to separate the technique from genetic modification in regulation.
Gene editing is different from genetic modification in that it changes characteristics of an animal or plant by deleting, swapping or repeating genes already present, rather than introducing new ones like the changes seen in GM technologies.
The Government has said the proposed refroms are an opportunity made available by Brexit and could boost food production.
Speaking at the Bill’s second reading, Lord Trees said: “With regard to avian flu, with which we are all now familiar and which is currently causing huge mortality in both wild birds and domestic poultry throughout Europe, it has been possible to gene-edit chicken cells in culture to make them resistant to the avian flu virus. This gives hope that poultry with genetic resistance to this pathogen could be developed.”
He added: “With regard to environmental issues, by reducing disease morbidity and mortality, new breeding technologies have the potential not only to improve food security but to maintain output with fewer animals and reduced land use, while at the same time reducing drug and chemical usage, notably that of antibiotics and parasiticides, to combat the global problems of antimicrobial resistance and environmental pollution.”
Cattle could also be bred with reduced methane emissions, he said pointing out: “We know that that is a heritable trait in cows.”
He added: “In general, I support this Bill very strongly. It would allow exciting new technologies which have the potential to be a game-changer in how we control disease in animals, to improve animal welfare and to be beneficial to the environment.”
Presenting the Bill earlier, environment minister Lord Benyon said: “It will give farmers options for greener, more resilient and more productive farming in the face of climate change and global challenges to world markets. Precision breeding has the potential to develop plants and animals that are more resilient to weather and resistant to disease and less reliant on chemicals such as pesticides and antibiotics.”
Moving to allay concerns, he told peers: “Under the Bill, an organism will be considered precision-bred only if it could have occurred through traditional or natural processes.
“Therefore, precision breeding allows us to introduce beneficial characteristics that could have occurred through traditional breeding, but much more precisely and efficiently.”
But Labour peer Baroness Jones of Whitchurch argued the Bill was “not fit for purpose” in its current form.
She said: “It needs to be more clearly underpinned by clear public interest criteria for future research. It needs to have a more robust and accountable regulator. It needs to rethink the application of gene-editing freedoms in animal research.”
The Bill received a second reading and will now go for detailed scrutiny by peers.