Week 6: Biotech and Art

Animal have been used for scientific experiments for centuries. Early Greek scientists like Aristotle and Erasistratus used living animals in some of their experiments, and history since them is littered with scientists who have also used animal experimentation. Despite its long history, animal experimentation is a controversial topic in society today (Hajar). It is because of concerns raised by animal rights activists, in addition to simple human morality, that there are stringent standards on animal experimentation.

I bring this up because I believe art can be derived from living organisms, but only if the artists follow similar restrictions to what scientists must follow. There are many rules placed on scientists who want to conduct animal research, but at the core of them is the belief that one should not cause unnecessary suffering to the animals (Festing and Wilkinson). Scientists have to justify the benefit of using animals far outweighs the pain that the animals may experience. As for artists, I believe they should be subjected to even stronger restrictions than scientists have to go through. This is because it nearly impossible to do a fair cost-benefit analysis on the use of animals in art because it is difficult to predict the benefit of a work of art before it is completed. Therefore, artists should avoid causing pain to animals, even at the expense of their artistic freedom.

However, artists still have many options available to use biotech in artwork. One such example is GFP rabbit, Alba, credited to Eduardo Kac. This rabbit expressed green fluorescent protein (GFP), a gene found in a species of jellyfish, in order to make a mouse that will glow green when exposed to the correct type of light ("Transgenic Bunny by Eduardo Kac"). Research into GFP exposure in laboratory animals show that GFP does not cause significant adverse effects to the animals that express it (Richards et al.).Therefore work with GFP or similar nontoxic genes can reasonably be used as part of biotech art. However, the GFP rabbit also highlights other difficulties artists can have in using biotech for art. Kac ended up butting heads with the scientists he initially worked with over the fate of Alba. After the death of Alba, Kac and the scientists both publicly vented their frustrations towards each other (Philipkoski). The story of Alba shows that there are still many difficulties in the use of even relatively harmless biotech in art.

Works Cited

Festing, Simon, and Robin Wilkinson. "The Ethics of Animal Research. Talking Point on the Use of Animals in Scientific Research." EMBO Reports. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 8 Jan. 2007. Web. 10 May 2015. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2002542/>.

Hajar, Rachel. "Animal Testing and Medicine." Heart Views : The Official Journal of the Gulf Heart Association. Medknow Publications Pvt Ltd, 12 Jan. 2011. Web. 11 May 2015. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3123518/>.

Philipkoski, Kristen. "RIP: Alba, the Glowing Bunny." WIRED. N.p., 08 Dec. 2002. Web. 11 May 2015. <http://archive.wired.com/medtech/health/news/2002/08/54399?currentPage=all>.

Richards, Harold A., Chung-Ting Han, Robert G. Hopkins, Mark L. Failla, William W. Ward, and C. N. Stewart, Jr. "Safety Assessment of Recombinant Green Fluorescent Protein Orally Administered to Weaned Rats." The Journal of Nutrition 113.6 (2003): 1909-912. Web.

"Transgenic Bunny by Eduardo Kac." Transgenic Bunny by Eduardo Kac. Genome News Network, 29 Mar. 2002. Web. 10 May 2015. <http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/articles/03_02/bunny_art.shtml>.