Visions of Animal Genome Editing

• In Event: Interrupting Innovation: Pausing to Examine New Biotechnologies - I

Abstract

Genome editing is a novel technique for making changes to an organism’s genetic material – the genome. The development of genome editing technology has made it arguably much more precise, efficient, flexible, and less expensive relative to previous strategies. These advances have generated an upsurge of interest in genome editing and its governance, including in animal livestock applications. While genome editing in livestock offers benefits, it also raises ethical and societal questions, not least because food is a matter of deep social and cultural significance. As the technology is still to be developed and implemented, it is the ideas, designs, visions, or what Sheila Jasanoff calls socio-technical imaginaries, that need to be assessed as objects for governance and future public deliberation to pause innovation and facilitate spaces for democratic disruption. In this paper we examine the driving visions and expectations of genome editing technology in scientific and corporate programmes. In particular, we analyse how animal scientists and breeding companies imagine the benefits of animal genome editing and the pathways envisaged from science through to application, paying attention to the assumptions, values and commitments that underpin corporate and scientific practices, and their influence on how companies manage technical change. This paper is based on interviews with animal breeding companies in the Netherlands, interviewing employees both in the business and R&D divisions, paying attention to the different corporate and governance structures of the firms.

Authors

• Phillip Macnaghten, Wageningen University

• Senna Middelveld, Wageningen University, NL