“When in doubt, Treat all sentient and insentient beings as kin.” — Sandra Cisneros, Woman Without Shame: Poems, “When in Doubt”“As older scientific notions of our difference from other animals have begun to break down, many have come to see animals as ethically important beings, fellow travelers on our spiritual as well as terrestrial journeys, and therefore worthy of our study and care.” —Animals, Dave Aftandilian, Grounding Religion: A Field Guide to the Study of Religion and Ecology
Recently I listened to a talk on biotechnology and the destructive and cruel things people are doing to cows, chickens, baboons, and pigs. It was harrowing.
The point of the talk was to dive into a discussion of ethics.
I have not been paying attention to biotechnology and to be informed a bit on what has been happening was horrifying.
We’ve been genetically modifying animals so that they can better (briefly) withstand lives in close confinement: Cows with shorter fur so that they do not die as easily from overheating. Pigs who will not go through puberty so that they do not need to be castrated. Chickens who are blind (so that they are less likely to peck at chickens crowded next to them). 
These are animals who will be consumed by people. Modified. Living short zombie lives. Rife with diseases and bodies who would be painful if they lived to adult age and size.
Imagine: Making your cells out of those cells…the cells of beings who are not meant to live.
Then, there was the discussion of xenotransplantation: transplanting organs from an animal of one species into the body of an animal of another species. Pig hearts into baboons as experiments. Then, pig hearts into humans. An individual pig having her heart removed. An individual baboon having his heart removed and a pig’s heart implanted and receiving treatment to keep that heart beating. Living in a cage, in pain, without knowing why.
We’ve been splicing human DNA into pigs so that humans are less likely to reject their hearts (and also allowing people to eat pigs whose genes are modified in this way). Thinking about zoonotic diseases, this is a recipe for disaster.
The first human to contract porcine cytomegalovirus was the first human to receive a pig heart into his chest (to replace his damaged human one). The human died two months after receiving the pig’s heart (and virus).
As a long time vegan, I have stopped paying so much attention to the genetic modifying of animals to be used by people as food —as it is less pertinent to me.
When my mother had to have a heart-valve replacement, there was brief consideration of whether a pig valve would be recommended. Instead, a mechanical one was considered to be more efficient —although it was an experiment to be tried in a person of her age and condition. She was part of a study. Animals died in the testing of this mechanical treatment as well.
I thought, for myself, I would not accept a pig organ. But I have accepted vaccines made from animal products and drugs tested on animals and surgeries likely practiced at animals…
I have to say “likely” because to research this and to be able to say with absolute certainty would uncover horrors that I am not sure I can digest today.
I always try to make my actions align with my values, but there is no perfection possible here. My “actions based on my values” shift based on what I am paying attention to (which can not possibly be everything). I have done things in the past which I would not do now knowing differently (visited zoos and aquariums, swam with dolphins, for example). I am likely doing things now which in the future I will not be able to morally and ethically do.
Attending this lecture (the point of which was an overview of some scientific and ethical questions and not even meant to show deeply animal cruelty —although offered by a researcher who was well aware of the animal cruelty involved), I thought about science fiction.
Can we even imagine what is happening here? Yes, we can. And have.
So, have people not been reading enough science fiction? Have they been reading too much and not getting the “cautionary tale” part? Do they not see the dangers? These biotechnology companies with their blatantly dystopian actions and comically dystopian sci-fi sounding names seem too ridiculous to be true. Strange camouflage.
Do we need to be writing more optimistic science fiction to give people better ideas of the kind of future we’d like to live in? I have always leaned into this thought.
Also, writing stories is not enough.
These practices carry risk. They spread disease. These practices are cruel, expensive, inefficient, and unjust.
Thinking about what we are doing: I am angry. I am sad. I am distressed. I am disgusted.
Why are we doing such things? Spending money this way? Whose pockets are being lined?
Capitalism.
But in ethical discussions, it is no use pointing fingers at nameless and faceless villains. We are all participating in these things, until we are not.
This is not how I want us to treat the planet, other humans, other than human animals, each other. This is not how I want to be treated or to treat others.
I can imagine things being different. I wish they were.
May we be kind. May we be compassionate. May we seek less suffering.
The sweet species with whom we share this planet deserve all the kindness and consideration we are able to give. We can be so much better than this.
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