Monday, August 1, 2011

Glowing Dogs

Humans are an incredibly arrogant species. I can't emphasize that enough.

Genetically modified beagle glows

Beagles are popular with vivisectors. They are small, easily managed, docile, friendly little buggers. Obviously we should screw up their DNA to make them glow green.

Researchers are hoping for two things:
* Green dogs become commercially successful as trendy pets
* Beagles can be infected with lethal diseases in order to, you know, track their progress green

I would guess they prioritize those two things differently, but hey, I think trendy commodity is more likely to be successful than effectively tracking human diseases in, you know, nonhuman animals.

Besides our arrogance, I presume we think ourselves intelligent. If so, then stop greenifying dogs and start using innovative, state of the art technologies to track and treat disease that doesn't involve the genetic manipulation of other species. Or other animals, period. Progress means changing archaic beliefs and traditions. Exploiting and abusing nonhumans is archaic - let's transition to other means sooner, not later.

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