Economy, Ethics, and Society... Oh My

Since the Enviropig has been introduced it has gained a lot of popularity and questions. These are usually centered around to effect it has on the economy, society and if it is ethical.


Economic Effect

The Enviropig is surprisingly cost efficient for farmers around the world. The current feed farmers use are expensive. If they want to increase the amount of phosphorous their pigs digest, they would need to add supplements. Though supplements work, the Enviropig doesn't need any sort of supplements to allow it to digest more phosphorous. Their saliva contains a gene that breaks down their food better.

Is it Ethical?

The team at the University of Guelph who developed and created these pigs has said that their pigs are not being harmed and all experiments or tests performed are all inline with the guidelines of the Canadian Council on Animal Care. They also say that the pigs were raised in accordance with the Canadian Code of Practice for hog production. In some cases the pigs produced have had no health problems and perform and act the same as any other pigs. There are some pigs who perform better than pigs raised the normal way which shows that the way they are raising pigs don't affect their health negatively.

How Has Society Reacted?

Society hasn't reacted very well to the idea of having genetically modified bacon on their plate in the morning because they are unsure about potential long term risks. Though the enviropig currently has no health risks in the short term, there are many skeptics that believe that there will be problems in the future. This unfortunately caused many Ontario pork farmers to pull their financial support for the research project at the University of Guelph. The main reasons for this would be the public, feeling that the pigs they were eating were unsafe "transgenic" animals. This for swine breeders and can have a negative effect for their business. They are still debating if the animals should be produced globally and if they are ready for consumption.