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What would happen if the mice escaped the facility, and bite other animals or humans (or breed with 'normal' mice)? Cockroaches escaped: https://www.telegraph.

What would happen if the mice escaped the facility, and bite other animals or humans (or breed with 'normal' mice)? Cockroaches escaped: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10264868/One-million-cockroaches-escape-from-Chinese-farm.html https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/102648...

daveFNbuck 8y ago
They're bred to be sick and live in a lab, so they and any of their progeny would not be likely to survive very long. They're not zombies, so them biting other animals wouldn't be a huge concern either.
Sammi 8y ago
What happens if man made super food like the Broccoli escapes it's man made field? Nothing. It can't compete with plants in the harsh natural competition for the survival of the fittest, because it hasn't been bred for that. It's only been bred to grow and grow, not to a wage war for survival against it's surroundings like all other plants in nature do.
- cat199 8y ago
  > It can't compete with plants in the harsh natural competition for the survival of the fittest, because it hasn't been bred for that. not a biologist in any way, but i'm pretty sure an addition/modification of one trait to an existing genetic line doesn't immediately render null-and-void all existing fitness of that line, such that they are immediately so unfit as to not propigate further
  - el_cujo 8y ago
    >i'm pretty sure an addition/modification of one trait to an existing genetic line doesn't immediately render null-and-void all existing fitness of that line That's true, but these lab lines generally are inbred for generations on purpose before the disease gene is even added, so even the "normal" lab mice without the disease are quite different than wild mice, and even quite different than other strains of lab mice.
- sorryforthethro 8y ago
  There is a very small risk that artificial transgenic DNA sequences can cause "transformation" (horizontal gene transfer) from the genetically modified plant to wild bacteria, with unknown consequences.
Neil44 8y ago
The protections are not to protect us from the mice, it’s to protect the mice from us. The value of the mice is in their purity. Imagine basing a 1bn investment in a new drug based on trials that it turned out were tainted because a mouse caught something from a human handler beforehand. Hence 17k a mouse.
el_cujo 8y ago
>What would happen if the mice escaped the facility, and bite other animals or humans Genes don't typically transfer that way. Except for extraordinary circumstances where the disease is caused by some sort of virus, getting bit by someone with hemophilia or cystic fibrosis or down syndrome isn't going to give you the disease. >or breed with 'normal' mice It's not impossible for this to happen, but in general these mice have been bred for generations in a lab environment where they are provided with food and water without having to find it on their own. The world is already a harsh place for a normal mouse that is well adapted to it, so if you add in a "soft" mouse with some sort of debilitating genetic disorder, I wouldn't worry too much about it taking over the world.

daveFNbuck 8y ago

They're bred to be sick and live in a lab, so they and any of their progeny would not be likely to survive very long. They're not zombies, so them biting other animals wouldn't be a huge concern either.

Sammi 8y ago

What happens if man made super food like the Broccoli escapes it's man made field? Nothing. It can't compete with plants in the harsh natural competition for the survival of the fittest, because it hasn't been bred for that. It's only been bred to grow and grow, not to a wage war for survival against it's surroundings like all other plants in nature do.

cat199 8y ago
> It can't compete with plants in the harsh natural competition for the survival of the fittest, because it hasn't been bred for that. not a biologist in any way, but i'm pretty sure an addition/modification of one trait to an existing genetic line doesn't immediately render null-and-void all existing fitness of that line, such that they are immediately so unfit as to not propigate further
- el_cujo 8y ago
  >i'm pretty sure an addition/modification of one trait to an existing genetic line doesn't immediately render null-and-void all existing fitness of that line That's true, but these lab lines generally are inbred for generations on purpose before the disease gene is even added, so even the "normal" lab mice without the disease are quite different than wild mice, and even quite different than other strains of lab mice.
sorryforthethro 8y ago
There is a very small risk that artificial transgenic DNA sequences can cause "transformation" (horizontal gene transfer) from the genetically modified plant to wild bacteria, with unknown consequences.

Neil44 8y ago

The protections are not to protect us from the mice, it’s to protect the mice from us. The value of the mice is in their purity. Imagine basing a 1bn investment in a new drug based on trials that it turned out were tainted because a mouse caught something from a human handler beforehand. Hence 17k a mouse.

el_cujo 8y ago

>What would happen if the mice escaped the facility, and bite other animals or humans Genes don't typically transfer that way. Except for extraordinary circumstances where the disease is caused by some sort of virus, getting bit by someone with hemophilia or cystic fibrosis or down syndrome isn't going to give you the disease. >or breed with 'normal' mice It's not impossible for this to happen, but in general these mice have been bred for generations in a lab environment where they are provided with food and water without having to find it on their own. The world is already a harsh place for a normal mouse that is well adapted to it, so if you add in a "soft" mouse with some sort of debilitating genetic disorder, I wouldn't worry too much about it taking over the world.