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Sometimes referred to as “the next big thing in agriculture,” the gene editing of meat animals extends from research labs, livestock farms, and even the federal government’s right to our dinner plates. Last month, the Food and Drug Administration announced it would lead the regulatory process to bring gene-edited meat to market. Tracey Forfa, director of the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Science, tied this agency role with its need “to keep our regulatory approach current with the evolution of science.

” “We recognize that innovations in animal biotechnology offer tremendous opportunities for advancing human and animal health,” she said. What is gene editing? Gene editing, often called CRISPR, allows researchers to disable a gene or add one for a desirable trait by modifying a gene in a specific place in a genome. Think of a pair of scissors; only in this case are enzymes that do the work instead.



The enzymes allow researchers to precisely insert or delete genes in an animal or plant’s DNA, intending to improve its health, productivity, and nutritional benefits. A genome is an organism’s complete set of DNA (genetic material). In the case of humans, for example, almost every cell in the body contains a complete copy of the genome.

The genome contains all of the information needed for a person to develop and grow. Not GMOS Gene editing is not genetic modification, which involves a different technology altogether in that it involves inserting DNA from an outsid.

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