Written on 10 May 2025.

FDA Approves Gene-Edited Pigs: Playing God With the Food Supply?

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has officially granted approval to U.K.-based biotech company PIC to produce and commercially distribute gene-edited pigs in the United States. Using CRISPR technology, these pigs have been genetically modified to resist a viral disease known as porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS), a costly affliction in factory farming.

PRRS emerged in the 1980s and continues to cause major losses for the pork industry due to its highly contagious nature and ability to mutate quickly. With vaccines proving ineffective, PIC has genetically altered the pigs by removing the molecular receptor used by the virus to enter cells. These altered embryos are then implanted into surrogate sows, and the resulting animals are allowed to reproduce — meaning the genetic alteration will be passed on to future generations.

This approval marks only the second time gene-edited pigs have been cleared for consumption in the U.S., following the 2020 approval of GalSafe pigs designed for people with alpha-gal syndrome. But unlike the GalSafe pigs, which targeted a narrow market, PIC’s pigs are intended for widespread use in the industrial meat supply.

Supporters of the decision claim it could make pork production more sustainable by reducing the need for antibiotics. Food & Drink International hailed the move as a "milestone in biotechnology."

However, critics warn that gene editing may produce unintended consequences. Watchdog group GMWatch noted:

"We don’t expect the genetically engineered virus resistance — which even now is leaky — to last long in the gene-edited pigs. ... The genetically altered pigs will drive the evolution of mutations in the virus that enable it to break through the engineered virus resistance."

Veterinary researchers echoed the concern. A former University of Minnesota professor warned that gene editing is not a "silver bullet" and must be accompanied by traditional virus control strategies.

The Center for Food Safety (CFS) responded by calling for stricter FDA oversight, citing the lack of transparency and long-term testing. The organization emphasized risks to both animal welfare and public health, as well as the erosion of consumer rights due to the absence of mandatory labeling.

From a theological and moral perspective, the implications are even more serious. These pigs are not part of what God created in Genesis. They are the product of human ambition — a high-tech attempt to override the natural order and rewrite the biology of creation. When man creates an animal that can reproduce with inherited artificial traits, it amounts to a permanent substitution of God’s design.

This is not stewardship. This is usurping the role of the Creator. The words of Genesis 1:25 remind us:

"And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good."

To edit those kinds into new forms that God did not make, and to allow them to reproduce and fill the earth, is not only unwise — it is rebellion. It may appear efficient, scientific, and profitable, but at its core, this is the Tower of Babel all over again: man trying to ascend and redefine the limits God set.

Even if the gene-edited pigs bring short-term benefits to the meat industry, the long-term costs — spiritual, ethical, and ecological — could be immense. The rise of self-replicating genetically engineered animals reveals just how far modern biotechnology has gone in attempting to play God.