Selected Reform Responsa 137 JEWISH INVOLVEMENT IN GENETIC ENGINEERING

QUESTION: May a Jew genetically alter a mouse or may a Jew use a mouse if it has been genetically engineered by a Gentile? What is the status of animals in Jewish law?(Arthur P. Gershman, Arlington, Va .)

ANSWER: Genetic engineering is a field still in its infancy, but we can expect major advances in this area in the future. At the moment it is possible to introduce permanent genetic changes in plants, animals and human beings. There are many questions about the control that need to be exercised and the dangers that may arise from new, altered, or hitherto unknown, substances formed through these methods. Unusual safeguards have been proposed by the scientific community, national and international agencies. Such caution is wise and we should proceed carefully even when we are dealing with animals. This responsum is not intended to discuss genetic engineering in human beings.

We will, perhaps, begin with the question of the status of animals in relation to human beings and the turn to genetic engineering. The biblical statement in Genesis(2.26) placed people above animals and enabled them to rule them and therefore to use them in any way that seemed appropriate and certainly to save a life (pikuah nefesh). So, for example, cattle could be used for food or for various kinds of work(B M 86b; Hag 3b; Meila 13a; A Z 5b, etc). Consumption or sacrifice was limited to those deemed clean (Lev 11.3 ff); the list included animals, birds, as well as fish. Other animals that were unclean could be used by man in various ways. There were few limits on the manner of catching or housing animals as long as it was humane, so various means of catching birds were discussed in the Talmud (B M 42a; Taanit 22a; Sab 78b; Ber 9b; etc). Animals that endangered human beings such as wolves and lions could be destroyed(Ber 13a). This was even more true of pestilent insects such as grasshoppers, mosquitoes or scorpions and ants. Crop eating field mice and rats could also be destroyed (Taanit 19a; 14a; Sab 121b; M K 6b). The Midrash that sought to