This is Alba a genetically modified rabbit designed by bio-artist Eduardo Kac using a gene from a jellyfish. Remember the school room hubba bubba about the egg-shaped tamagotchi craze, comparing your virtual reality pets, feeling bad when it was sick, or the many virtual reality funerals for pets that starved to death, well it won’t be long before you can design your own heartthrob pet, but unlike the tamagotchi’s basic circuit boards these pets with real organs will breathe.
These creatures come from the laboratory by means of the confluent interests of genetic scientists and of course corporate, frothing mouth in their incessant search of new trends to feed the young generations, who in trying to give themselves an identity in a consumerist world, look to new diversity in their purchases and fashion conscious appetites in an effort to differentiate themselves
from the older ‘uncool’ generations. Pets are a major industry for the consumers, who spent millions on pet products such as foods, toys, psychiatry and veterinary fees.
One dog owner told a reporter that she spent hundreds of pounds on her seven year-old boxer who loathes visiting the park. Her boxer has a psychotherapist called Janetta Smith, who believes dogs have the same mentality as 5-year-old children. She explains the dog’s problems: ‘It's a bit like someone suffering from agoraphobia, they can't cope with certain situations. That is the trouble, he's (the boxer) not exposed to those, so he can't cope, so now its getting him exposed to them so he can cope.’
These genetically modified pets do not pass regulatory restrictions in Europe yet, so it may be a while before we see them in our local pet stores, of course America
with no such regulations in place and CEO’s running the country, with profits ranking high above ethical practises, haul them out of their Asian warehouses without pause. The GloFish was out on sale in 2003, the GloFish is created by injecting zebra fish eggs with the gene of a sea anemone to create its red colour. In 2006 green and orange fish became available which was made from the fluorescent marker gene from jellyfish. It is a magnificent looking creature although there are questions of its purpose ‘Fluorescent transgenic fish do not have any apparent fitness advantage over wild type fish of the same species...to the contrary, because fluorescence carries additional burdens in biosynthesis, energy distribution, and predator avoidance, fluorescent fish are likely to have reduced fitness.’
We are entering the age of genetic engineering, maybe tails or fins will become fashionable. Imagine a glowing purple rabbit running alongside your younger sister who has a hipsters tail, while she sucks on her blue genetically modified strawberry.
Nature will not be so resolute in giving away its mysterious essence either. In around 1870 Herrington and Lightbown investigated the luminous substance radiating from dead herrings; they thought they could invent a formula for an organic source of light. As eccentric as this undertaking was, the phenomena of a glowing death herring still cannot be explained. With the release of Disney's 101 Dalmatians,there was a massive rise in Dalmatian owners,perhaps if Disney craft a lovable genetically modified rabbit, we will see purple rabbits in our parks and gardens quicker than we imagined for good or evil.
