Will Animal Biotech Bring Home the Bacon? An F.D.A. policy published for public comment on September 18 threatens the health of a promising new field: the production of animals with novel and valuable traits. After more than 20 years of deliberation, the F.D.A.'s Center for Veterinary Medicine has proposed that every "transgenic" animal crafted with gene-splicing technology will be subject to the procedures and regulations for drugs used to treat animal diseases, such as pain relievers or anti-flea medicines. But the introduction of a gene is not the same as the administration of a drug. Moreover, the F.D.A.'s approach represents a major shift in the regulation of biotechnology that will be hugely expensive to animal breeders and detrimental to consumers. What kinds of animals are we talking about? One that has been awaiting an F.D.A. policy for almost a decade is an Atlantic salmon that contains a newly introduced Chinook salmon growth hormone gene that remains turned on all year round (instead of during only the warmer months, as in nature). This cuts the time to marketable adult weight from 30 months to 18. The extra gene confers no detectable differences in the salmon's appearance, taste, or nutritional value; it just grows faster. There are numerous other applications in various stages of R&D, including livestock with leaner muscle mass, enhanced resistance to disease, or improved use of dietary phosphorous to lessen the environmental impacts of animal manure. Up till now, the F.D.A. has not regulated new lines of farm animals or, for that matter, animals used for what might be termed "medical purposes."....