Pain-Free Meat

Food has become a political issue as we Americans become more conscious of the origins of our food. Bestselling books like Fast Food Nation and The Omnivore’s Dilemma look at the toll that factory farming takes on our health and environment.

While many feel that such practices are inhumane, they don’t seem to be going away anytime soon. But Adam Shriver has an idea – why not genetically engineer animals to not suffer? He’s a philosopher at Washington University in St. Louis, and as you can imagine, his provocative proposal published this month has already garnered some strong reactions. He joins us on the line with his defense of pain-free food.

Knocking Out Pain in Livestock: Can Technology Succeed
Where Morality has Stalled? (PDF)

New Scientist: Pain-free animals could take suffering out of farming

(Photo by law_keven via Flickr/Creative Commons)