1 ETHICAL ISSUES IN THE APPLICATION OF BIOTECHNOLOGY TO ANIMALS IN AGRICULTURE Robert Streiffer and John Basl <H1>1. INTRODUCTION</H1> The controversy about the use of modern biotechnology in agriculture erupted in the early 1990s when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved recombinant bovine growth hormone, a chemical produced using genetically engineered microorganisms and injected into dairy cows to increase milk yield. 1 Public debate continued as farmers—primarily in the United States, but also in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and other countries—increasingly planted genetically engineered soybeans, corn, canola, and cotton. Recent biotechnology research includes the development of genetically engineered animals and cloned animals with the aim of creating animals to be used as food or breeding stock in agriculture. This chapter provides a framework for evaluating the two most important aspects of these new applications of modern biotechnology to the food supply. Most of the research on genetically engineered livestock has focused on cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, chickens, and fish. 2 Cloning (using somatic cell nuclear transfer) was first successfully performed in 1996, producing Dolly the sheep. Among other livestock species, cloning has now been successfully performed using cattle, pigs, and goats. 3 The aims of the research are usually the same as those of traditional breeding, improving traits