Animal Biotechnology Myths & Facts

Myth: Only humans can benefit from medical biotechnology.
Fact: According to USDA, there are 105 licensed biotech products for animals. These products include veterinary vaccines, biologics and diagnostic kits. The animal health industry invests more than $400 million a year in research and development. Current sales of biotech-based products for use in animal health generate $2.8 billion (out of a total market for animal health products of $18 billion).

Myth: Biotech and cloned animals are still years away - improving animals through biotechnology, or cloning them is science fiction.
Fact: The first biotech animal to be sold to the public reached the market in January 2004; GloFish are biotech ornamental fish that contain a gene from a sea anemone. Under black light, the GloFish fluoresce in a brilliant red color. The first cloned-to-order pet, a cat, was delivered to its owner in December 2004. Both biotech GloFish and cloned cats are currently available for purchase by the public. Additionally, there are currently several hundred cloned dairy and beef cattle, though their food products have not been sold to the public. Sheep, cattle, goats, pigs, mice, rabbits, horses, rats, cats and mules have all been successfully cloned in laboratory settings.

Myth: Pets do not benefit from biotechnology at all.
Fact: Companion animals, better known as pets, benefit greatly from vaccines and diagnostic tests based on biotechnology. Biotech-based products to treat heartworm, arthritis, parasites, allergies and heart disease, as well as vaccines for rabies and feline HIV are used daily by veterinarians. Gene therapy has been used to help restore sight to blind dogs, as well as for melanoma, canine lymphoma and bone cancer. Also, some biotechnology companies offer DNA sequencing of purebred animals, such as dogs, for identification purposes.

Myth: Biotech and cloned animals are different from normal animals.
Fact: Studies and experience have shown that biotech animals are animals that eat, drink and behave in ways we are familiar with in their conventional counterparts.

Myth: Animals cannot benefit from biotechnology.
Fact: Biotechnology provides new tools for improving animal health and increasing livestock and poultry productivity. These improvements come from the enhanced ability to detect, treat and prevent diseases and other problems. Additionally, feed from biotech crops are better designed to meet the dietary needs of different farm animals, improve feed efficiency and reduce waste. Just like other assisted reproduction techniques such as artificial insemination, embryo transfer and in vitro fertilization, cloning can also significantly improve animal breeding programs and decrease the occurrence of hereditary diseases and improve the health of animals.

Myth: Wild animals cannot benefit from cloning technology.
Fact: Worldwide, researchers have used cloning technologies to conserve endangered species. In the last four years, scientists have successfully cloned at least three endangered animals: the European mouflon, the guar, and the banteng, the latter of which is viewable to the public at the San Diego Zoo. Several zoos and animal conservation organizations, including the San Diego Zoo, the Zoological Society of London and the Cincinnati Zoo have created "Frozen Zoos" or genetic databases to cryogenically stores samples of DNA, gametes and cell tissues from endangered or threatened mammals, birds and reptiles.

Myth: Biotech will cause disease outbreaks such as avian flu, mad cow disease and West Nile virus in animals and insects, which will be transferred to humans.
Fact: Diseases such as avian flu, mad cow disease and West Nile virus are not related to, nor caused by biotechnology. In fact, researchers are working to find ways to apply biotechnology to eliminate some of these diseases. Scientists in Korea have created biotech cows that may be resistant to mad cow disease, and some research has been done to develop biotech mosquitoes that will no longer infect humans with malaria and other blood-borne diseases.

Myth: Organ transplants from animals are an unreal fantasy.
Fact: Xenotransplantation, or organ transplants from one species to another, is not a new concept, and could be perfected in our lifetime. The idea of xenotransplantation goes back several decades; in fact, in 1984, a U.S. pediatric patient received a baboon heart which worked for 20 days. Today, doctors regularly use valves from pigs' hearts for human heart valve transplants and pigs' skins for skin grafts for human burn victims. Although organ transplants are much more complicated, extensive research has been done on the potential for using biotech animals as blood or organ donors for humans. Biotechnology has been used to address rejection of donor tissues and organs, and biotech pigs have been developed with organs that might resist rapid rejection by the human immune system.

Myth: We are just exploiting animals by applying biotechnology to them.
Fact: The health and well-being of all animals can benefit from biotechnology. The health of companion animals can be significantly improved through the use of biotech vaccines, such as the rabies vaccine, and new diagnostic tests that can identify things such as feline HIV. Domesticated farm animals can greatly benefit from biotechnology through vaccines and diagnostic tests. Improved breeding programs enhanced by biotechnology can drastically improve herd health by eliminating hereditary diseases. Reproduction and breeding techniques influenced by biotechnology, such as in vitro fertilization, artificial insemination can even save endangered species by restoring shrinking populations.