Gene editing will just perpetuate disastrous factory farming | Letters

Instead of trying to cosh nature into submission, our farmers should be improving the health of the soil and the diversity of their crops and animalsA quotation leapt to mind when reading "Gene editing 'would allow us to create hardier farm breeds' (News): "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong" (HL Mencken). Application of magic bullet "solutions" has got our species into many disastrous situations, from Australian cane toad waves to an explosion in obesity linked to the prescription of low-fat diets.To support environmentally disastrous factory farming by modifying animals to resist one disease would only invite the spread of more pathogens that threaten humans and other animals. Continue reading...