‘Bringing Home the Bacon’: FDA Approves U.K. Biotech Company Plan to Produce Gene-Edited Pigs for U.S. Consumers

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week gave a U.K.-based biotech company the green light to produce gene-edited pigs for human consumption in the U.S. PIC, formerly the Pig Improvement Company, uses CRISPR gene-editing technology to genetically engineer pigs to be resistant to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS), a viral infection that affects pigs produced in industrial factory farms, according to Technology Review. PRRS, which first emerged in the 1980s, is a contagious respiratory virus that causes fever, respiratory issues and reproductive failure in pigs. It can also suppress the immune system, making pigs more vulnerable to...