Social acceptance for commercialization of genetically modified food animals

Ziyao Fan; Yulian Mu; Tad Sonstegard; Xiaomei Zhai; Kui Li; Perry B Hackett; Zuoyan Zhu

doi:10.1093/nsr/nwab067

Social acceptance for commercialization of genetically modified food animals

Natl Sci Rev. 2021 Apr 21;8(8):nwab067. doi: 10.1093/nsr/nwab067. eCollection 2021 Aug.

Authors

Ziyao Fan¹, Yulian Mu², Tad Sonstegard³, Xiaomei Zhai⁴, Kui Li¹, Perry B Hackett⁵, Zuoyan Zhu⁶

Affiliations

¹ Genome Analysis Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China.
³ Acceligen Inc., USA.
⁴ Center for Bioethics, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, China.
⁵ Center for Genome Engineering, Department of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development, University of Minnesota, USA.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China.

Abstract

Genetically modified food animals (GMFAs) are needed to address early the cumulative effects of livestock production on the environment, and to accommodate future food demands. In 2020 China and the USA, the world's two largest economies, embarked on regulatory reforms to boost the commercialization of such animals. However, gaining social acceptance of GMFAs for commercialization remains a global challenge. We propose a framework that focuses on social license for commercialization of GMFAs by defining four classes of improvement using precision genetics: (1) animals equivalent to natural variation to obtain the improved effect of cross-breeding (ENV); (2) animals with an inactivated gene that could occur via natural mutation (ENC-); (3) animals harboring a natural genetic sequence isolated from another species (ENC+); and (4) animals with synthetic sequences encoding novel genes (BNE). Our approach can guide regulators and the public to support orderly commercialization of GMFAs.