• more about #bioethics
    TheFu: The quickest death is the most ethical, IMHO. If cutting the spinal cord near the C2 vertebra means less pain, but doesn't extend the length of death... more »
    The Curse of Millhaven: I think that this idea is barking down the wrong alley. The misery of feedlot farming is not a function of how painful their last few minutes are, but... more »
    somnambulance: Interestingly, both kosher and halal slaughtering methods require that the cow's throat be cut with a very sharp knife. I think this is one of the mo... more »
    Swearengen: When the animals rebel against mankind, how do you stop a cow that feels no pain? more »
    J_Frank_Parnell: Funny, I think most of the pain and suffering that cows and other factory farmed animals experience in this day and age has been brought on by genetic... more »
    twDarkflame: Pain has nothing to do with not wanting to be dead. I never understood why so many "ethical" arguments bring up pain. Who here would be happy to die ... more »
    joetato: I feel the need to quote the Dread Pirate Roberts (as portrayed by our hero Wesley): "Life is pain. Anyone who says differently is selling something.... more »
    promethean_spark: A properly executed cow shouldn't feel any pain in the first place. Bang, they're dead... A classic case of false premise, it's not like the cows in... more »
    Anekanta - Go Play!: Total Fail. Just because an animal is not in physical pain does not mean it isn't suffering for the way we treat it. more »
    RavenNemain: THey need to read Oryx and Crake - this is way too similar to the Chickie Nobs. Those things creeped me out. more »
    Cory Gross: Or we could do the actually ethically, environmentally, economically and tastilly better thing by breaking up factory farms and returning to the famil... more »
    firstanointed: Never mind that this is a completely absurd idea, but isn't anyone concerned about the unkillable zombie cow factor? There are infinite ways this idea... more »
    ejs2000: Sorry, didn't RTFA, but it seems to me that the question of "will factory faming be ethical if we remove cows' abilty to feel pain?" must be preceded ... more »
    gods-n-clods: With the "ethical" meat, we can still have ethical heart disease, ethical hormones in meat that cause children to menstruate early, ethical colon canc... more »
    omgwtflolbbqbye: But the tears are what makes them so yummy... :( In all seriousness though, I do remember reading, some animals (don't remember if cows were include... more »
    Hlaode: I control Fed and everything and no one has made a hitchhikers guide reference yet.... Maybe we should engineer them to be sapient so that they want ... more »
    ♠ Final ♠: Kind of like Darkman... Minus the synthetic skin, greedy land developer and Liam Nelson. Ok, nothing like Darkman but how do you stop something with ... more »
    braak: You are, as usual, completely correct.: But...but their anguish is the most delicious part! more »
    vulcanized: This seems like a bad idea. Though it could have more practical applications in the realm of chronic pain management, it neglects the fact that to so... more »
    Roklimber: Great... beef production and consumption are already extremely costly to the environment, and now some people want to bio-engineer cows, a process tha... more »
  • #madscience

    "Ethical" Beef Cows Could Be Engineered to Feel No Pain

    Meat eaters looking for ways to enjoy a guilt-free hamburger have looked to ethical ranches and more humane slaughtering methods. But some suggest that instead of getting rid of factory farming, we should eliminate cow's pain. More »
  • #retrofuturism

    Mutant Monster Chickens Stalk “The Farm of Tomorrow” (1954)