Targeted genome modification applied to animals: in between controversies

Abstract

The tools for genome modification are numerous and lead to a variety of uses: inactivation, mutation, deletion or insertion of a DNA element or a gene in an organism. Some methods induce a random modification, while others, which are of interest to us, are carried out in a targeted manner. Regardless of the tools chosen, the types of modification executed or the purpose of these modifications, the subject is a controversial one. This article looks at the debates that arise from the potential application of these genetic tools to farm animals and seeks to show that this subject, currently the preserve of specialists, has all the criteria to become a public controversy. The paper first reviews the main uncertainties raised by the subject and examines the debates around the legal framework. It then explores the possible ways in which the subject could be thematized, recollecting the GMO controversy and the case of the salmon produced by Aquabounty in the US, until recently the only Genetically Modified Animal (GMA) authorized on the food market. A third part offers a quick overview of the actors who express themselves on the subject and the rare evocations of GMA in France. These confirm that the subject remains confined to the scientific and professional environment, where the GMA becomes a revealer of the relational dynamics between science and society. Although civil society actors have not yet taken up the subject, the few positions observed in the last part suggest that interest through the prism of animal welfare does not work.